Team Herald
MARGAO: The ‘Save Mhadei, Save Goa’ group has accused Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of betraying Goa yet again, for failing to speak about the interests of the State when he recently campaigned for the BJP in Karnataka, where Assembly elections are upcoming.
Addressing media persons on Monday, the group’s Salcete convenor Serafin Cotta along with other leaders like Prashant Naik, Vikas Bhagat and Pratima Coutinho, referred to a video of Sawant campaigning in a Sankalp Yatra that was held in a district of Karnataka close to the Goa border. Cotta pointed out that during this rally, a Karnataka Minister replied to a question from the people, stating that the people of Karnataka will get water from Mhadei river, and that the issue between the States of Goa and Karnataka were no problem.
Cotta questioned why Sawant chose to stay silent then and added that the people of Goa would’ve been proud of him, had he argued with the Karnataka BJP leader and asserted that Goa is still opposing the diversion of Mhadei river water by Karnataka. “The people of Goa have been betrayed by their CM. The least he could have done was talk about what the Goa government is doing to protect the Mhadei river,” he said.
Naik added that the CM had weakened the case of the State government in the Supreme Court.
He added that BJP leaders often paint their detractors as ‘anti-national’ but in this case the CM showed that he is ‘anti-Goan’ and thus deserves criticism. Naik added that they are ready to be put in jail for such comments but that it will not stop them from strengthening their movement. The group also emphasised that they are apolitical, and said they pllan to amp up protests.
