PANJIM: The opposition Congress party has criticised the statement made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the Congress, both at the centre and in the state, never made any contributions to the development of Goa while it was in power.
During the felicitation of Union Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik at Panjim for being inducted in Modi 3.0 government, Sawant said “the Congress government never contributed to the development of the State while in power and even during its rule at the Centre, it never took Goa seriously in giving representation to the State in the Union Cabinet.”
Responding to Sawant’s statement, Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao said, “Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had released a book on the birthday of former Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane. Senior Rane was chief minister under the Congress regime when Konkani was recognised as Official Language, we got Statehood, and the Zuari bridge was built linking both the districts. What about the education institutions the Chief Minister has studied in? Whatever development has taken place, it happened during the Congress regime. The Chief Minister’s statements are just ‘Jumlas’. He should stop blaming the Congress for mismanagement. This is just an event management government. It is only interested in organising events. Statehood was a big thing and it is because of that we have a Cabinet now, otherwise we would have been a Union Territory.”
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCVC) president Amit Patkar said, “The Chief Minister went to Poira for the release of a book written on the life of former Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane and he was termed as the modern maker of Goa. Sawant gave the certificate claiming that achievements mentioned in the book were done by Pratapsingh Rane. Now Pratapsingh Rane was the chief minister of Congress party. All the educational institutions, industrial development, Kadamba bus transport corporation came up during the Congress regime. Sawant should go to archives and read the statement made by him on January 28, 2024.”
GPCC Vice President Sunil Kawthankar said, “Congress had Pratapsingh Rane as longest serving Chief Minister for 17 years, Digambar Kamat for five years and Ravi Naik for around two and half years. Both are with the BJP today. Now Sawant should tell the people why BJP had taken these people under whose regime nothing has been done. Sawant Cabinet also accorded lifetime status of the rank of Cabinet minister to Pratapsingh Rane recognising his contribution to the State as the Congress chief minister. This exposes the lies and propaganda being spread by Sawant. Before BJP came to power, whatever infrastructure the present leadership is using were all built during the Congress regime.”
Meanwhile, Union MoS Shripad Naik was also felicitated at Porvorim where he got the biggest lead out of seven constituencies of Bardez Taluka.
