MAPUSA
Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira swiftly rebutted Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's accusations against the Congress, dismissing them as unfounded and asserting that the CM may have been misled.
Ferreira countered by alleging that it was, in fact, BJP's former MLA Glenn Ticlo and his supporters who attempted to sow division within the Aldona electorate along religious lines in a bid to secure Ferreira's defeat in the 2022 assembly polls.
"Claims of communal division by Congress and myself? Utter nonsense! It seems CM Pramod Sawant has been fed misinformation," Ferreira retorted in a statement released here.
According to the Aldona MLA, Glenn Ticlo and his supporters made concerted efforts to stoke religious divisions, even prior to the 2022 assembly elections, to sway the outcome.
However, Ferreira emphasised that voters did not succumb to these tactics then and would not do so now.
Ferreira pledged to expose Glenn Ticlo and those associated with him who propagate communal agendas.
He called on the CM to take decisive action against such divisive elements within the BJP, cautioning that they pose a threat not only to Aldona but to the entirety of Goa.
“The CM should unequivocally remove such divisive elements from the BJP, as they are not only a threat to Aldona but to Goa as a whole. Unless the CM intends to incite communal tension in Goa for political gain,” Ferreira remarked.
During a BJP campaign meeting in Aldona on Sunday, CM Sawant had accused the Congress of promoting divisive tactics by exploiting religious and caste identities for electoral gains, without explicitly naming Ferreira.
"They (Congress) label people based on their religious affiliations and then incite conflict among them. This kind of divisive rhetoric is rampant in Aldona," Sawant had asserted, insinuatingly referencing Ferreira.
Sawant reiterated BJP's commitment to inclusive development while condemning what he perceived as the Congress's divisive strategies, particularly in Aldona.
