PANJIM: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar filed his nomination to contest the Lok Sabha elections from North Goa constituency.
Girish was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar, Congress MLAs Pratapsingh Rane, Jennifer Monserrate, Nilkhant Haldankar, Francis Silveira, Tony Fernandes and other leaders and supporters of the party.
Girish will take on four-time sitting North Goa MP and Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik.
“We will fight these elections on the issues, which are being faced by the people of Goa. We want to bring to the discussions the promises made by the BJP before the 2014 elections and how many of them have been fulfilled,” said Girish, after filing his nomination.
Stating that the BJP was shying away from discussing genuine issues of the public, he listed out various false promises such as the promise of special status to Goa, made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 elections. “Special status has been a major issue. Mining has been another major issue that has affected the masses, which has not been resolved by the BJP. There are many other major issues, which the BJP will have to respond to,” added Girish.
Expressing confidence that he will win the elections, Girish said “The MP (Shripad Naik) will have to give an account of his tenure of four terms and about the work he has done for the people of the constituency. I will become the voice of the people and raise their issues and work for them.”
Stating that the BJP in 2014 had sought votes in the name of Narendra Modi, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Babu Kavalekar said, “Now they don’t even have the moral right to seek votes in name of Narendra Modi as he has not fulfilled any of the promises made to the Goans or the people of the country. The state government as well as the central government has failed.”
Poriem MLA Pratapsingh Rane said that unemployment will be a major issue this elections as the economy has come to a standstill.
