Three Catholic MLAs pick BJP over Church

TEAM HERALD

PANJIM: A major split within the ruling Catholic MLAs on the Diocesan Society of Education (DSE) issue was witnessed, with three legislators – Nilesh Cabral, Glen Ticlo and Carlos Almeida – distancing themselves from the entire controversy. Interestingly, Ticlo and Almeida were part of the very first meeting held on Wednesday, called by the DSE following directions from the archbishop.

While Almeida claims that constituency work, and “heavy rain” forced him not to be part of the delegation this morning, Cabral was clear that he is against the move of DSE, which he feels is likely to create a communal divide in the state. 

After joining hands, the three, first-time legislators of the saffron party refused to sign the memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar that demanded an immediate solution to the educational grievances of the DSE. Not just this, but the trio were separately called on by the chief minister, hours before the scheduled meeting of Catholic MLAs, where they informed that ‘they are not part of it’.

Sources confirmed that Cabral, Ticlo and Almeida refused to sign the memorandum. They had also turned down the request to be part of the delegation that met Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar  on Friday morning. 

When contacted, Cabral said that he is against the style and functioning of DSE, whose recent move is like trying to create a communal divide between Hindus and Catholics. “I don’t appreciate the move of DSE. If the issue was only pertaining to education then they should have called all MLA meeting and not just Catholic MLAs. They should have taken BJP in confidence and then approached government,” he said. 

The Curchorem MLA said that government has granted permission for a new school and additional divisions to the existing schools, run by the Catholic, in his constituency. 

“It is sad to see that DSE is bringing religion in education. The move is completely on communal grounds. Goa is a secular state and any move to have a communal divide will not be supported by me,” he added. 

Sources said, “On Thursday, all the ruling Catholic MLAs were supposed to meet. However these three MLAs refused to be part of the meeting. They sounded not in favour,” adding, ‘it was clear that these MLAs took a decision under party pressure’.

It is learnt that all the three legislators were called by the chief minister an hour before his scheduled meeting, wherein the MLAs said that they have not signed the memorandum nor are they part of the delegation. 

On the other hand, Almeida was not so clear as why he was not part of the delegation. While he claimed that constituency work forced him to stay in Vasco, he also said that it was not just Catholic MLAs but all MLAs that were called for the first meeting. This however was not the case, since Herald has learnt that only Catholic MLAs were called.

“We were called by DSE as there were some issues….they have to understand… everything will take time to work on,” he said.  

On Wednesday, the very first meeting, chaired by DSE secretary Fr Zeferino D’Souza, was attended by Ticlo and Almeida while Cabral was not present. Cabral was the only BJP legislator who did not attend the meeting. Moreover, both Ticlo and Almeida left the meeting half way.

Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, the senior-most BJP leader, being out of Country, has also not signed the memorandum but the delegation says he has extended his support. 

On the other hand, Congress MLA Jennifer Monserrate did not sign the memorandum nor did her husband – unattached MLA Atanasio Monserrate. Congress’ Mauvin Godinho and Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco signed the memorandum.