Team Herald
PANJIM: Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who served both in the ruling and opposition during the past two tenures, resigned on Sunday. The ex-MLA has expressed his desire to join Congress, soon after which he made an official entry into the party.
“I have got an opportunity to work in the ruling as well as sit in the opposition during the last 10 years. I wish to join the Congress because we have felt the pulse of the people, who want a change. BJP is no longer the party it was when (then CM late Manohar Parrikar) Parrikar was alive,” he told the waiting journalists outside the Legislative Complex, after submitting his resignation to Speaker Rajesh Patnekar.
Emphasising that he is not blaming the current rule under Dr Pramod Sawant, Gaonkar however alleged that Sanguem has been side-lined despite the constituency playing a major role across the developmental sectors.
“If we speak about development, Sanguem has contributed a lot… Until 2011-12 when mining operations were in full-swing, Sanguem contributed 30 per cent of the total revenue to the State exchequer. Although the revenue generation slowed down thereafter. But in the recent past, Sanguem is side-lined…” he said.
“People do not want BJP anymore because there is a sense of dissatisfaction. We all know that Goans were content under the regime of Digambar Kamat,” he added.
