PANAJI
The Congress on Sunday latched on to what it called “revolt” by Art and Culture Minister, Govind Gaude, who at a public function egged on tribal group UTAA to launch an agitation over several demands of tribals pending with the government and asked Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to clarify or resign.
Congress vice-president, Sunil Khautankar took to micro-blogging site ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to say: “This rebellion by Minister @Govind_Gaude has completely exposed @BJP4Goa. This vindicates our stand that #STs were only used and fooled by BJP. CM @DrPramodPSawant must clarify if this revolt by his minister is the first symptom of change or changing times and resign.”
On Saturday, Gaude at a public function in Ponda had accused government officials of delaying tribal welfare projects and warned that if the system is not put in place before the next ‘Prerna Divas’ the tribal community will be forced to launch an agitation.
In his speech at the function organised by tribal groups, Gaude, who incidentally also holds the tribal welfare portfolio, lashed out at government officers and blamed them for the failure of the ‘Eklavya Prashikshan Yojna’, a scholarship scheme for tribal students of class X and XII which provides coaching to prepare them for admissions to professional degree courses.
