MARGAO
Congress national leader Priyanka Gandhi on Friday kicked off the party’s election campaign for the 2022 Assembly election as she made an impassioned plea to the people to vote for Goa and save the state from destruction.
Saying the coming election is the last opportunity to save Goa from destruction, Priyanka has warned that theState will be destroyed if it goes in the hands of the present rulers for another five years or is being ruled by other parties.
Addressing an impressive Congress workers women convention at the Costa ground, Aquem-Margao, on Friday, she handed out a host of promises to the people, including 30 per cent employment for women.
Saying that the safety and security of women were of paramount importance, Priyanka said the Congress party will set up taluka police stations across the state with women officers and policemen to deal firmly with crimes against women.
She promised that the Congress government would provide financial assistance of Rs one lakh to the self-help groups. Going one step ahead, she said the government would create marketing avenues for moving the produce of the SHGs.
“The 2022 election is an important election for Goa. You have to vote not for the parties, but Goa to save the state from destruction. You have to save your state and your culture. This is your culture and you have to take it forward. It is the responsibility of the government to take the state forward and not to loot it,” she said.
Saying that Goa is the treasure of the nation, Priyanka said Congress wants that Goa should remain in the hands of Goans and decisions on development should be taken by the people. “When people of Goa opposed SEZ, the Congress revoked it by listening to the voice of the people”, she added.
Touching on the controversial issues of double-tracking, highway widening and power transmission lines, she said the government want to bulldoze with these projects by cutting down thousands of trees and destroying hills and the picturesque Dudhsagar waterfall for just one corporate.
“All these projects are being carried out to help one corporation to transport coal through Goa to other states to make profits. They are not worried about the pollution and the destruction”, she charged.
She made a fervent plea to the party workers to work hard to provide Goans with a government that actually works for the state. She said the sole aim is not to capture power, but to provide livelihood, jobs for women and the youth so that they do not have to leave their state in search of employment.
Touching on the entry of new parties entering the state ahead of 2022, Priyanka appealed to the people to find out how these have fared in states where they are ruling. “I stay in Delhi. There’s so much pollution that you cannot even breathe. You have to do development here by protecting your environment, forests, water bodies etc,” she said.
Senior Congress leaders, including Opposition leader Digambar Kamat, Pratapsingh Rane, GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar, MP Francisco Sardinha and others were seated on the dais. Veteran freedom fighter Shashikala Almeida Hodarkar was felicitated at the hands of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on the occasion.
