MAPUSA
Slamming former minister and Congress candidate Michael Lobo for paying lip service to the Bhandari samaj, BJP State executive member and Bardez Bhandari samaj president Narayan Mandrekar on Tuesday said the former minister was using the Bhandari card to propagate his political career.
Mandrekar also said that the self-respected people of Siolim would never get swayed by any inducements dished out on the eve of elections.
“Siolimkars would have appreciated if the Congress had fielded a Bhandari as the candidate in the constituency. But instead of grooming a Bhandari candidate in Siolim, Lobo preferred to promote his wife exposing his selfish interest,” Mandrekar said.
The BJP State executive member was addressing a news conference along with former Mapusa chairperson Rohan Kavlekar and ex-councillor Vinod Phadke.
Continuing, Mandrekar alleged that the former minister had an eye on the verdant hills and the open agricultural land in Siolim and therefore fielded his wife in the constituency.
“Every swabhimani (self-respecting) Siolkar will never fall for the temptations of money. Every Siolkar is proud of their land and will never allow it to be converted for development,” he said.
He said the Siolim voters have suffered after giving a chance to a new face in the 2017 elections and will never repeat the mistake this time around.
Former chairperson and BJP karyakarta Rohan Kavlekar said that as waste management minister, Michael Lobo never bothered to resolve garbage issues of Mapusa.
He said Lobo was only propagating lies and deceit and never kept his word.
“He neither managed to honour his promise of regularizing the houses of the common man nor kept his word to resolve the issues of taxi-owners,” Kavlekar said.
He said people of Mapusa and Bardez should not fall for his lies and deceit.
Former councillor and ex-Goa Cricket Association secretary Vinod Phadke said that he decided to back the Mapusa BJP candidate Joshua D’Souza only because he was young and had the capability to bring a change in the town.
He said the BJP had a good team and will do justice to the State after coming to power.
Incidentally, Phadke had contested against the BJP in 2017 and backed Sudhir Kandolkar in the 2019 elections after the death of former deputy CM Francis D’Souza.
