Team Herald
MARGAO: The felicitation function of South Goa Lok Sabha MP Francisco Sardinha held at Gomant Vidya Niketan was high on rhetoric and propaganda but poor in actual execution and performance as the programme that was sparsely attended commenced one hour beyond the scheduled time.
And while former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who was supposed to address the gathering, did not show up, former chief minister Pratapsing Rane, who was supposed to felicitate the new MP arrived at 5.30 pm for a programme that was supposed to start at 4 pm.
All-Goa Mahila Congress President Pratima Coutinho was conspicuous by her absence while Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco arrived at 5.30 pm along with Pratapsing Rane and not withstanding the fact that the programme commenced late, each speaker spoke for minimum 10 minutes.
Francisco Sardinha in his acceptance speech assured the people that he would be their voice in the Parliament and raise all issues concerning South Goa in the Parliament and thanked the people for electing him and giving the Congress Party a 50 per cent lead in Goa.
“I promise to be with you and shall be your ambassador with the centre,” he said while adding that he would also adopt the Kola Village that was earlier adopted by Narendra Sawaikar, did no development work there.
Sardinha promised to convert it into a model village.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant alias Babu Kavlekar pointed out that though Narendra had adopted Kola Village he did no development work there and only utilised State funds to carry out cosmetic works. He also accused the previous MP of neglecting Salcete.
Former chief minister Ravi Naik blew the bugle for preparing for the Assembly elections and urged party leaders to concentrate on preparing the booth committees and further suggested that instead of fighting amongst themselves Congressmen should do well to strengthen the party organisation and structure.
He made a fervent plea to conduct Congress functions in Konkani as it was the official State language and added that Francisco was elected because he had a rapport with the people with his trademark “Ola” greeting.
While Ravi gave a call to start preparing for the Assembly elections, Amit Deshmukh, the All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Goa said Sardinha’s victory was a sign of the times being good for the future of Congress in Goa.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar pointed out that the Congress had increased its vote share and was leading in 14 Assembly segments and thanked workers of the Goa Forward Party, Nationalist Congress Party and even the BJP who supported the Congress at Lok Sabha elections.
