Thank you for taking our garbage, Cong tells BJP

Team Herald 

PANJIM: Congress on Monday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by thanking the ruling party for “cleansing” the Congress by taking away its “garbage”. Congress was referring to rebel MLAs Mauvin Godinho (who joined BJP last week) and Pandurang Madkaikar who is set to join the party on Thursday.

 “Today I thank them (BJP) for cleansing Congress. I am happy that they (BJP) have taken our garbage to enrich themselves,” Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Luizinho Faleiro told media persons.

“What I feel bad about is that it took BJP five years to appreciate the great qualities of these leaders and appropriate them in their party,” he added.

Pointing to former chief minister and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Faleiro said that the BJP leader had been shouting from the rooftop that Congress leaders are most corrupt. “These are same leaders of the BJP who went to the High Court and Supreme Court against those corrupt Congress leaders,” Faleiro said referring to the power scam case filed by Parrikar against Godinho. “The move by the BJP has made me finally accept that it is a party with a difference,” he said. 

The Congress leader gave clear signals to party rebels that the door is open for all those who want to leave it. “All those people in Congress, who are scared of BJP are free to go,” he said adding, “I will be able to get more new and young faces.”

The Congress State President was speaking in the presence of MLAs Digambar Kamat and Vishwajit Rane. He, however, refused to comment on whether the party will promote family raj in the 2017 elections. “We already have two sitting MLAs – father and son. As per Congress party policy, we give ticket to sitting MLAs,” he said.

“The Congress party constitution does not speak anything on family raj, the question does not arise, when we are yet to decide on tickets,” the former Chief Minister said, adding that the first list of candidates would be out soon, probably on Wednesday.

Goa desk in charge AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh and three members of the Screening Committee led by MP K C Venugopal are in Goa to scrutinize the list of candidates submitted by the district committees.