MARGAO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s concept of Ministers at the people’s doorsteps kick-started in Salcete on Friday, but left many an eyebrow raised over Art and Culture and Sports Minister Govind Gaude’s visit only to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) represented constituencies of Benaulim and Velim.
Gaude was quick to deny that his visit to Velim and Benaulim out of the eight Assembly constituencies in Salcete had anything to do with Mission AAP. The Minister sought to defend his presence in Benaulim and Velim, saying Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was out of station, while BJP Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar was preoccupied with the Zilla Panchayat polls.
Indeed, the Sports Minister’s visit to Velim and Benaulim with AAP MLAs, Cruz Silva and Venzy Viegas in tow did raise questions why Gaude did not plan his visit across Salcete, but restricted himself only to Benaulim and Velim.
That’s not all. Gaude earned kudos from the AAP Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas at a media briefing by the Minister in the presence of the two MLAs, with Venzy saying the Sports Minister has so much energy in him to serve the people.
When the media questioned Gaude whether the government has any Mission AAP in mind, the Minister said a firm no, saying, “This is not Mission AAP. The two MLAs have been contacting me so many times. We have not come here to play politics.”
Saying the government will take up issues in every constituency equally without any discrimination, Gaude, however, said the AAP MLAs have been doing the follow up on the pending as well as new projects in their constituencies. “I had visited some of the Salcete constituencies, including Benaulim, Velim and even Cuncolim in connection with the FFIA matters. I want to make clear that we are not doing the works only in Benaulim and Velim, but in all the constituencies, irrespective of political affiliations.”
The AAP MLAs were certainly not left disappointed by the Minister’s visit to their constituencies. During his visit to Velim, the Minister handed out an assurance to AAP MLA Cruz Silva to inaugurate phase I of the Velim grounds by November 10. Similarly, he directed sports officials to prepare the road map for the execution of Phase-II of the Velim sports complex, including a joggers turf, shed et al.
The Minister assured to complete work on the football grounds at Chnchinim, Sirlim by setting up deadlines for their inauguration.
