the goan I network
MARGAO
Cold shouldered by the opposition over the proposal to get the Maharashtra alliance model in Goa to dislodge the BJP government, Goa Forward Party Chief Vijai Sardesai on Sunday said this very attitude of the Congress had pushed the regional party to support the BJP after the 2017 Assembly polls.
He said it is not his intention to topple the government or to have an alternate dispensation in a hurry, but hastened to add that resentment is brewing in the government as the ministers are unhappy because their projects do not get cleared due to financial mismanagement, quoting Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari that anything can happen in cricket and politics.
“History is repeating itself within two years. This very same attitude of the Congress had made the Goa Forward go to the BJP in 2017. These people had found fault with us for supporting Manohar Parrikar and they still find fault even when we are opposing the BJP,” he told the media when questioned that the proposed alliance has not gone down well with the opposition in the state.
Sardesai said he had mooted the idea of the alliance to take all like-minded parties together after the successful experiment in Maharashtra. “Just like the Shiv Sena, the Goa Forward is a regional party. It is our objective to take all like-minded parties together to expose the anti-people’s steps of a ‘weak’ Pramod Sawant government, be it on Mhadei and other issues,” he said.
Elaborating further, Sardesai said the idea of the alliance was floated since the regional party did not want a split of the anti-BJP vote, but lamented that the Congress had not changed its attitude of looking down on other parties since 2017.
Saying that the government cannot blame the regional party for the fiscal mismanagement, Sardesai demanded to know the status of the Rs 1950 crore borrowed by Sawant after becoming the Chief Minister.
Coming out in defence of OCI citizens, he said the diaspora has every right to criticize what is happening in Goa.
“The OCIs have a right to their opinion. This government is intolerant to criticism while on the other hand praises the diaspora for helping the state,” he said, while reminding that Goans have migrated abroad as the government has failed to provide employment at home.
...Hits back at Babu Ajgaonkar
MARGAO: The Goa Forward Chief did not spare deputy Chief Minister, Manohar Ajgaonkar for his statement that ‘Sardesai has somewhat lost out in the political scheme of things and is looking for some space.’
“I would like to tell the minister for roadshows, beach cleaning et al that I can find my way through the roadshows and reach Dhargal. We had kicked off our maad yatra from Dhargal, which had helped revive this person’s political future”, he said.
Saying that Ajgaonkar flaunts the Bahujan Samaj card whenever it suits his interests, Sardesai recalled the same person had termed Babu Naik, Eduardo Faleiro, Luizinho Faleiro, Digambar Kamat, Manohar Parrikar and now Pramod Sawant as Bahujan Samaj leaders.
...Asks Churchill if CM is good, why can’t he get Western bypass on stilts
MARGAO: Taking strong exception to Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao’s stand that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is a good administrator, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai questioned why Alemao could not get the Western bypass built on stilts as demanded by the people of Benaulim constituency.
“People who cannot complete the Colva road and cannot meet the demand of the Western bypass describe the Chief Minister as a good administrator. He must have got money for football. Those who are officially in the opposition visit the Mahalaxmi for their own selfish interest and not for people’s development,” he said.
Terming as intellectual bankruptcy of the Chief Minister to bank on the Benaulim MLA to defend him, he reminded that the BJP had not long ago castigated this individual for insulting the national flag and putting him in jail in the JICA case.
