MARGAO
The Congress party took the Opinion Poll day platform on Tuesday to virtually launch its campaign for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls from the historic Lohia Maidan, Margao with party leaders giving a call to the people of the state to uproot the “lotus” from the state in the coming Lok Sabha polls like how the people had voted to retain Goa as a separate state in the 1967 Opinion Poll.
Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao thundered that the identity of the Goa is under threat from the BJP government with a host of ill conceived projects and called upon the people to send home the ruling party in the coming polls.
At an impressive meeting at the Lohia Maidan organized to commemorate the historic Opinion Poll Day,
Party leaders, including Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Amit Patkar, CLP leader Yuri Alemao, Congress Goa in-charge, Manikrao Thakre all gave a call to the people to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok sabha polls.
Manikrao Thakre said party workers and the people are the real strength of the Congress party in Goa, conveying a message loud and clear that the party would not be affected with the defections of the eight party MLAs.
Making a fervent plea to the party workers to gear up for the ensuing Lok Sabha election and the 2027 Assembly election, Thakre exuded confidence that the people of Goa would rally behind the Congress since it is the only party which takes all people together on the path of development.
“The people of Goa are with the Congress. The people gave us 18 seats and 13 seats in the last two Assembly election. We will give them confidence that the Congress is with them and to back the party in the coming polls”, he said.
He added: “Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehu had outlined his vision in the first election that India belongs to all the communities and the only way to usher in the path of development is by taking all communities along. Certain political parties then tried to woo the Hindus and the Muslims to oppose the Congress ideology, but the Congress emerged victorious with a thumping majority. The Congress is still following the ideology outlined by Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi”, he said.
GPCC chief Amit Patkar slammed the government for the sins of omission and commission and called upon the people to uproot the Lotus symbol from Goa like how they had done in the Opinion poll. “The time has come to stop the loot and plunder of the state and to show door to the government”, he asserted.
In his spirited address, CLP leader Yuri Alemao charged the BJP for its agenda to destroy the state with a host of projects. Accusing the BJP for its agenda to divide the people of religious lines, Yuri further charged Goa has emerged as the highest unemployed state in the country during the tenure of the double engine government.
In his address, South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha reminded the people that it was the Congress party which had given Goans the Opinion Poll and Statehood while urging the people of Goa to rally behind the Congress to defeat the BJP.
Party MLAs Alton D’Costa and Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira , senior party vice-president M K Sheikh also spoke at the meeting as they complimented the people of Goa on the occasion of Opinion Poll day.
