MARGAO
Ahead of Tuesday night’s Political Affairs Committee meeting, Goa Forward supremo Vijai Sardesai has hit back at the major coalition partner, demanding to know why the BJP core committee did not discuss the burning Mhadei water diversion issue and only restricted the deliberations to the installation of Dr Jack Sequeira’s statue in the Goa Assembly complex.
Sardesai made the statement to the media on Tuesday morning, hours before the top brass of the
regional outfit, all members of the Political Affairs Committee, were scheduled to go into a huddle, with the Goa Forward party supremo making it clear that the PAC has been called to take stock of the political situation arising out the of BJP core committee’s meeting to oppose Sequeira’s statue, the Mhadei water dispute and the party’s organization.
Sources in the know said the Goa Forward party led by Sardesai has not taken kindly to BJP’s core committee’s decision against installing Sequeira’s statue in the Legislative Assembly complex. This
was amply evident by the fact that Sardesai led the battle against the major coalition partner from the front as he questioned the BJP’s core committee over its silence on the contentious Mhadei water dispute.
That the TCP Minister went to the extent of saying that Goa will get merged into Karnataka if Mhadei river water is released to the neighbouring state against the sentiments of Goans goes to show that the regional party is bracing up to take on the BJP leadership head on.
“Why is Mhadei river water dispute not an issue for the BJP. Why did the core committee of the BJP not discuss and deliberate the Mhadei water dispute at their meeting on Monday. They had all discussed and deliberated on Sequeira’s statue, but remained silent on the contentious Mhadei river issue dear to the heart of Goans”, Sardesai said.
He pointed out that the Goa Forward had been demanding the installation of Sequeira’s statue in
the Legislative Assembly because the Opinion Poll had saved Goa’s merger with Maharashtra. “Now, Goans are living in another fear, that is, if Mhadei water is diverted to Karnataka, we will have to merge with Karnataka. But, this contentious issue was surprisingly not on the agenda of the BJP core committee that met on Monday”, Sardesai said, adding that the Political Affairs committee of the Goa Forward is meeting tonight to discuss a host of issues, including BJP’s rejection of the demand in support of Sequeira’s statue in the Legislative Assembly.
