TEAM HERALD
PORVORIM: Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said that the thought process of the people could be gauged from the Zilla Panchayat election results, even as he argued that it was not the bench mark to assess the performance of the State Government. However, if this is a mid-term appraisal, then we don’t qualify, D’Souza added.
“BJP leaders should take these signals seriously and try to rectify the mistakes if they have occurred,” D’Souza, who was a chief ministerial aspirant after the exit of Parrikar, said.
“These elections have provided the BJP leaders a good opportunity to introspect and think where things went wrong and how to strengthen the party. The party has suffered defeats in some sure shot constituencies. The reasons for losing these seats should be investigated,” D’Souza said.
The BJP-led alliance won 25 seats while independents won 24 seats in the polls in both the Zilla Panchayats.
“We should accept the results but should examine and find out the reasons behind the not-so-good performance of the alliance,” D’Souza said.
When it was pointed out that the party had presented this election as a ‘mid-term appraisal’ of the BJP government in the State, D’Souza said, “If this is mid-term appraisal, then we don’t qualify.”
He also said that he felt that it was expected that the things would go wrong in Goa after Manohar Parrikar resigned as Chief Minister (to become the Union Defence Minister), adding “I honestly feel that these results are of no consequence. I personally feel the holding election on party lines is a good system and in the course of time people will get used to it.”
Saying that elections on party lines were essential for stability and accountability, he argued that in other states, ZP elections are held on party lines.
According to him if the Congress party had participated, the situation would have been different.
D’Souza was speaking to media on the sidelines of the release of the book ‘’Swachh Bharat – Nitoll Goem’ at the Secretariat Friday. Also present were Director of Municipal Administration Venancio Furtado, Vice Chairman of GSUDA Raj Singh Rane and GSUDA Project Consultant Celsa Antao.
South Goa ZP Vice Chairperson Wilfred D’Sa after defeating GVP candidate from Nuvem. Santosh Mirajkar
