PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party today castigated the Bharatiya Janata Party for destroying the legacy of former CM Late Manohar Parrikar, and propping up an illegitimate Govt with Congress MLAs only to loot the state. Stating that Parrikar’s schemes for the common man was what brought BJP to power in 2012, State Vice-President Adv Pratima Coutinho said that the “Congress Janata Party” of today has trampled over this vision and abandoned Goenkars in a time of severe distress.
Reacting to a news report on the Laadli Laxmi scheme, Coutinho expressed shock at the dismal performance of the Govt vis-a-vis the popular scheme for women.
“Less than 400 applications were approved in the past two years, and almost 24,000 applications are still pending. This is an approval rate of less than 2% per year, so this scheme is as good as dead. The BJP Govt has killed the Ladki Laxmi scheme, and with it the future of the girl child”, Coutinho charged.
Coutinho also recalled Parrikar’s other schemes such as Griha Aadhar and DSSS, and raised the issue of funds not being disbursed to beneficiaries for many months at a time.
“Sawant has Rs 277 crores to gift to his casino friends, but he doesn’t have money for the common man when they most need it during the pandemic. To make matters worse, Sawant has made fake announcements of compensation to Covid victims, just to grab headlines and deflect criticism of his handling of the situation”, Coutinho mocked.
Coutinho reminded that Parrikar had fulfilled his 2012 poll promise to waive the VAT on petrol in Goa, and had ensured that petrol cost remained below Rs 60/litre. Coutinho lamented that today the petrol cost has crossed Rs 95/litre, despite international crude prices being 30% lower than it was in 2012.
Coutinho recalled that during the 2017 assembly election campaign, the BJP had felt threatened by the AAP’s promises of free water and electricity, and spread misinformation that Parrikar’s social welfare schemes would be shut down by AAP if they came to power.
“Today we see that the BJP itself has finished off Parrikar’s legacy in Goa. On the other hand, AAP Govt has not only provided social welfare schemes for all, but also free electricity, water, first-class education and health care, as well as compensation for covid victims, and financial relief during lockdown for the common man. We can do all this and much more in Goa”, Coutinho concluded.
