MARGAO
South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha on Wednesday conceded that there is no mechanism in place to stop anyone from leaving the party after getting elected, insisting that defections can be stopped only by giving tickets to good people and candidates with character.
He also said the Congress party has not faced much heat following the entry of outside parties into the state. He, however, hastened to add “no doubt, some people have left the party to join the new parties. I don’t say whether you call it heat or cold, but it is a fact that you have begun to feel that someone has left the party. Some of those who left the party are not elected people. We have to wait and see”.
When asked whether the Congress has worked out a mechanism to ensure no more defections take place, Sardinha said defections can be stopped only by giving tickets to good and clean candidates.
“Why you give the tickets to aaya ram gaya ram, they become jaya ram after getting elected. This can be stopped only by giving tickets to candidates with character”, he said.
Addressing the media, the MP slammed the BJP-led government for the delay in disbursing the subsides for the farming community. “How can you expect the farmers to go for the second crop when the promised subsides does not come even for a period of six months”,
Sardinha also took on the government for state of the affairs of the Sanjivani sugar factory and the Usgao Abattoir. “The government has no action plan to revive the Sanjivani Sugar factor. Farmers will suffer loses if the harvest is not done at the right time”, he said, while demanding restarting of the factory within three months.
Similarly, he demanded that the government revive the Usgao Abattoir so that bulls and buffaloes are slaughtered at the Goa meat complex. ‘We are against cow slaughter. The ban on cow slaughter was brought when I was the Agriculture Minster. We are against cow slaughter, but the old bulls and buffaloes can be allowed for slaughter since they are a burden on the farmers”, he added.
The MP said the government should acquire adjoining private forest land around the government forest by compensating the owners and retain the forest cover.
