PANJIM: Going against the party decision, Dy Speaker Michael Lobo has moved a private members’ resolution for installation of Dr Jack de Sequeira’s statue in the Goa Legislative Assembly Complex.
The BJP Core committee meeting last month had decided against the installation of Dr Jack Sequeira statue.
“I have placed my resolution that the statue of father of Opinion Poll be installed in the Assembly complex next to the statue of first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar. These were the two tall leaders who need to be respected,” Lobo told Herald.
The Dy Speaker says he does not want the issue to polarise Goans.
“I don’t want the issue to create a divide between Hindus and Catholics,” he stated.
When asked why was he going against the party decision, he said, “party decisions sometimes are not binding on alliance governments. I think the government as a whole, including BJP, would agree with my resolution and it would be approved.”
When pointed out what would he do if there is a whip by BJP, he said, “well then the Goans will have to forgive me.”
“As a member of legislative assembly, I can participate in debates and place resolutions but I cannot vote against the whip. I will urge all the parties and 40 MLAs not to ask for division of votes but unanimously resolve for installation of statue,” he said.
Amidst demands from some ruling minority MLAs to install a statue of Dr Jack de Sequeira in the Goa Legislative Assembly complex, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday opposed erecting any statue in the complex, which currently has a statue of Goa’s first Chief Minister Dayanand ‘Bhausaheb’ Bandodkar.
The resolution was adopted by BJP’s State level core committee, which met at the party head office on Monday, and was attended by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and other MLAs.
“A large number of people have participated in the freedom movement, Opinion Poll, and the all-round development of Goa. Due to this the request for installing their statues in Vidhan Sabha complex are likely to come up in near future and therefore BJP does not support the demand of installing any other statue in Vidhan Sabha complex and appeals to all to support the developmental agenda of the government,” says the resolution adopted by the party, which had MLAs Michael Lobo, Nilesh Cabral, Francis D’Souza, Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho, Pandurang Madkaikar, Alina Saldanha, and others in attendance.
