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THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: The Congress, on Saturday, said the two BJP Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha failed to be the voice of Goans in the Parliament and therefore were not fit to be re-elected as MPs in the State.
“Goa has been grappling with several issues but the two MPs representing the State failed in their performance in Delhi. For the last five years, Goa did not have a voice in the Parliament, either from North Goa or South Goa,” said Ramakant Khalap, Congress spokesman.
He said the two MPs “ Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar “ miserably failed to raise the core mining issue with the BJP leaders at the Centre to kick-start the industry in the State
“They were not even in a position to fix a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the stakeholders of the mining industry in the State,” said Khalap, who was former union minister for law.
The Congress spokesman was addressing a news conference along with North Goa District Congress President Vijay Bhike, PCC member from Pernem, Subhash Kerkar and others.
In a scathing attack against the government at the Centre, the Congress spokesman said the Centre failed to come to the rescue of the MPs in the State.
“Union Minister of State for Ayush and North Goa MP Shripad Naik has failed to enforce his leadership in the party. He appears to have been made a minister only for decorative purpose. He has failed to bring any projects worth its salt in the State,” he said.
Khalap said North Goa MP Shripad Naik had taken up the village of Ibrampur in Pernem under his wings to develop it into an adarsh village under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana launched by PM Modi in 2014.
“The Congress recently visited the village and found that there was no project that has come up in the village. In the last five years, no infrastructure project of merit has been constructed in the village. Apart from beautification of a few temples and construction of retaining walls, there was nothing much done by the MP in North Goa,” he said.
The Congress spokesman said that even if Shripad Naik was re-nominated as the candidate for North Goa, he was bound to lose this time.
North Goa District Congress President Vijay Bhike and PCC member from Pernem, Subhash Kerkar also spoke.
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