MAPUSA
The inaugural session of the Cooperative Conference (Sahakar Sammelan) virtually turned into a BJP campaign meeting on Sunday at Peddem, Mapusa.
The 5000-strong crowd, a majority being women, was not an opportunity to let go and Bharatiya Janata Party used it as a perfect platform to market its accomplishments.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s 39-minute address to the gathering was more of BJP’s achievement and very little of the cooperative movement.
Showering praises on the women and their contribution to the society, he went on to list the number of welfare schemes launched for women, despite facing a financial crunch.
“The State’s financial position came under a strain after the closure of mining. But that did not stop us to finance the welfare schemes, nor were any infrastructure works stopped,” Parsekar said to a thunderous applause.
Deputy Chief Minister, Francis D’Souza was not far behind.
Pointing to the huge turnout, he said such a big crowd could be accommodated in the Mapusa indoor stadium only because of the infrastructure put in place during the Lusofonia Games.
“And who raised this infrastructure? The BJP government… Under whose leadership? Manohar Parrikar. It is the BJP government who works for the welfare of the people that has made this possible,” the deputy chief minister said.
Cooperation Minister Mahadev Naik also made the best of the opportunity.
“The BJP has always backed the common man,” he said and listed the number of schemes the government launched after assuming power.
“The BJP government will always be with the aam aadmi. Our government has given schemes to all sections of the society,” Naik said.
Getting a crowd of 5,000 people under one roof is no mean task and once again BJP has managed to showcase its organisational talent.
From Pernem in the north to Canacona down south, people from every nook and corner of the State were ferried in buses to the one-day event.
More than 50 Bal Rath buses were put into service to ferry people from different parts of the State. Not to forget a sea of four-wheelers and two-wheelers in the parking lot.
The logistics of organising the event were huge, but the BJP-led government was right there.
Tall Congress leaders that occupy high positions in the cooperative sector like Ramakant Khalap, Ramchandra Mule and Dharma Chodankar were conspicuous in their absence, while a host of BJP leaders and workers were in full view at the event.
After Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar’s 60th birthday bash at Campal, where more than 50,000 people were present, the Sahakar Sammelan appears to be another massive build up as a prelude to the 2017 assembly polls.
