Could Sidharth be giant slayer in Navelim?
MARGAO: After mobilizing the farmers from Navelim, who had faced the threat of being displaced from their land during the Congress regime, this activist had backed incumbent MLA Avertano Furtado to the hilt to deny former PWD minister Churchill Alemao a second term in Navelim in the 2012 Assembly election.
Five years later, activist-turned-politician and a strong opponent of the Mopa airport, Sidharth Karapurkar, is back in Navelim “ this time to take on Avertano Furtado under the Aam Aadmi party banner.
A strong opponent of the Mopa airport who had actively worked with Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) demanding the scrapping of the proposed Mopa airport, Sidharth has exuded confidence that AAP will come out with a solution to the contentious issue to the satisfaction of the displaced farmers.
When The Goan drew his attention to the fact that AAP has already declared staunch Mopa supporter Devendra Prabhudesai as a candidate, Sidharth said that AAP would soon come out with a stand on the airport tangle. “The party leadership has initiated a debate on the airport controversy. I am confident that the party will soon come up with a firm stand on the issue, which will also take into account the interests of farmers and the land losers," he said.
Sources in AAP informed that Sidharth was shortlisted as the party candidate either for Margao or Navelim, before the party leadership finally decided to field him in Navelim.
