MAPUSA
Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte squarely blamed BJP for rocking the Penha da France boat (panchayat), and accused newly-elected sarpanch, Radhika Sawant, and panch Blanche D’Souza of switching sides.
“Porvorim was developing at a fast pace, which some BJP members did not like. So, the easy way out was to destabilise the panchayat, and that’s what they have done,” said Khaunte, while addressing a hurriedly convened news conference at his residence on Thursday evening.
He said at the first gram sabha after Safar Phadte took over as the sarpanch, people raised a lot of issues on illegalities happening in the village.
“And Phadte did not disappoint the people. She issued notices against those involved in illegal activities, which apparently did not go down well with Radhika Sawant,” the MLA said.
He added that Sawant and D’Souza switched sides only to hide away from illegalities and because of greed.
Other panchayat members Panch Gajanand Halarnkar, Swapnil Chodankar and
V Vernekar were also present for the news conference.
