Team Herald
PANJIM: The BJP Mahila Morcha has found support in Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) over its remark that Panjim will cease to be a safe place for women if Congress candidate Atanasio Monserrate comes to power in the upcoming by-election.
GSM’s Women Wing has endorsed the statement by BJP Mahila Morcha president Kunda Chodankar. They also advised the members of the ruling party’s unit to maintain their stand on Monserrate if he plans to join the BJP in future.
“We endorse the statement of BJP Mahila Morcha because the cases against him are serous in nature. Since Monserrate is known to be a party switcher, we also advise the women members of the BJP to maintain the same attitude if he plans to join the BJP in future. Keep up the same spirit to ensure he is not inducted in your party and we will support you (BJP women wing),” Advocate Swati Kerkar of the GSM said during a press meet in the capital on Sunday.
Kerkar also hailed Chodankar’s positive remark on GSM Panjim candidate Subhash Velingkar.
During a press conference last Friday, Chodankar raised apprehensions on the safety of women if Monserrate “is elected in the upcoming by-polls by default.”
She, however, had no reply to repeated media questions on why the women’s wing did not voice against its party for appointing Monserrate as chairman of the Greater Panjim Planning & Development Authority.
Responding to the claim, Monserrate’s supporters including women councillors slammed the BJP for creating fear among the people while also pointing out that ex-Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar’s family and BJP Panjim Mandal president Deepak Mhapsekar have residences in Taleigao. They also sought to know from the BJP’s women wing that if girls were unsafe why would girls from Panjim go to Taleigao for morning walks.
