Team Herald
PONDA/ CURCHOREM: Ponda locals have expressed their strong resentment to the political development, wherein two MGP MLAs namely Minister for Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar and Deepak Pauskar split from the MGP to merge their group into the BJP.
Umesh Naik, a Ponda resident said, “Goans are witnessing dirty and low level politics just to enjoy power. Ethics are violated and democracy is in danger. The elected politicians are not respecting the voters and switching sides for personal gains. The time has come to stop such moves. When people elect a certain candidate he is elected for that ideology of that party. When he defects that party and joins another it is an insult to the voters. If one political party is breaking another, what is the need to contest an election on party lines?”
Another local Shashikant Naik said earlier Congress caused a split within the MGP several times to enjoy the power and now BJP has following the suit. So far the BJP managed to take into its fold two Congress MLAs namely Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte and now MGP’s Manohar Ajgaonkar and Deepak Pauskar. These MLAs should feel ashamed of themselves for ditching their parties.
Mahesh Naik said when Pauskar contested as an Independent candidate in Assembly election he hardly pulled in around 3000 votes but when given the MGP ticket in 2017, he got majority of votes. But the same person now claims that he has been elected on his capacity. This is insult to the people, who voted and got him elected to the Assembly.
The political development too had not gone down well with the MGP workers in Ponda and Dharbandora.
A MGP worker speaking on the condition of anonymity said the split in the MGP caused by BJP will affect South Goa candidate Narendra Sawaikar’s chances badly. MGP while in alliance observed the dharma but BJP betrayed it. This time BJP will have to pay the price for ditching MGP.
Meanwhile, former Sanvordem MGP MLA Vishnu Prabhu has disapproved the stand taken by Sanvordem MLA Deepak Pauskar.
He said before Pauskar, not a single MLA from Sanvordem constituency had defected. When I was a MLA, parties including the Congress tried to break our party but I remained faithful to the MGP which is a Bahujan Samaj party and Bahujan Samaj elected Pauskar but he betrayed their trust and this will definitely affect his chances for violating people’s mandate,” Prabhu said.
“My personal opinion is that one must respect the decision of the original party on whose ticket people elect him and to defect to other party without consulting the voters who elected you is totally wrong. You betray the party, which gives ticket and helps you to win the elections. By staying in MGP, he could have done a lot of work as GSIDC chairman. There should be some ethics in politics and one must not betray or leave the party for the sake of power/post and selfish motives.”
Sanvordem Sarpanch Sanjay Naik said, “We accept party decision to admit Sanvordem MLA as it will help strengthen the BJP and give stability to government. We are happy because after 20 years a Sanvordem MLA will get a ministerial berth and we expect that he will carry out more developmental work as Nilesh Cabral did in Curchorem. We also hope that he will respect the grass-root honest workers of the BJP from Sanvordem constituency.”
Meanwhile, Ganpath Naik, Sanvordem BJP block president said, “Due to mining closure many people from the constituency lost their jobs and today unemployment is a major concern particularly among the youth. Since Pauskar is getting a ministry we hope that it will help in gaining employment for the local youth and develop the constituency, which lags behind when compared to other constituencies. We are happy that he joined BJP.”
