the goan I network
PANAJI
Leaders cutting across party lines on Friday paid rich tributes and hailed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a true leader at a meeting organised at Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto, here.
BJP’s Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho appealed to all leaders to emulate the good qualities of the late Prime Minister.
The Panchayat Minister recalled an incident when Vajpayee was the prime minister and he was a minister in the Congress government in Goa. “Despite Congress government in Goa, Vajpayee sanctioned a direct electricity line worth Rs 450-crore to Goa from Kolhapur. Because of this Goa is getting uninterrupted power supply now,” he said. BJP leader Rajendra Arlekar said that Vajpayee was not greedy for any post. “He was a symbol of selflessness. If he had not been in politics, he would have been a big journalist,” he added.
A leader from Goa of Socialist Party of India and former MLA Vinayak Naik said that Vajpayee was a pure-hearted person. It is very hard to criticise the person, he stated.
Goa Forward Party minister Jayesh Salgaonkar said the influence of Vajpayee’s speeches created so much impact on him that he started thinking why not a BJP government in Goa at that time.
TCP Minister and GFP supremo Vijay Sardesai could not attend the meeting. His colleague Salgoankar informed that Sardesai had to skip the meeting due to some prior appointments.
MGP leader and PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar and independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar also spoke. Congress party spokesperson Amarnath Panajikar said that due to the respect they had for Vajpayee, GPCC paid tributes to him at the party office in Panaji.
Former CM Laximikant Parsekar, Speaker Pramod Sawant, South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, BJP Goa president Vinay Tendulkar also spoke in the meeting.
