TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: The Congress party launched a scathing attack on the government for releasing a string of advertisements in local dailies to welcome their party leaders to the two-day national executive meeting in Goa, alleging they misused the State treasury for political purpose.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress house in the capital Friday, Congress MP Francisco Sardinha said he was “surprised.”
“I am surprised. How they could spend public money on advertisement promoting the party at a time when the state has more than three lakh unemployed population due to mining closure,” he said. The MP said that the matter will be raised during the next Assembly Session.
“It is public money… does not belong to the BJP or any other party to spend like this,” Sardinha said.
The quarter page coloured advertisement on the front page of almost all dailies has welcomed party leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Narendra Modi, Sushil Kumar Modi and Sushma Swaraj with their pictures printed on it. The advertisement has been released through Directorate of Information and Publicity.
On the top left edge is Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and right bottom is Deputy CM Francis D’Souza’s pictures with a message saying, “Government of Goa welcomes National luminaries to the land of Peace, Prosperity & Tranquility.”
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik also slammed the government for misutilising government funds.
“Although the advertisement does not mention about the national executive meeting, it is still evident because the advertisement is released on the day the conclave begins in the presence of these leaders who are shown in the ads,” he said.
“While on one hand BJP is trying to approach the Central Government to seek funds for compensating affected by the closure of mines, on the other hand they are squandering money in a criminal manner,” Naik, also AICC Secretary added.
