Sardinha making a point on how to strengthen the Congress party in the state. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO: Senior Congress leader and MP Francisco Sardinha on Thursday said he has conveyed his views to Congress central observer P Chidambaram on various issues affecting the party, including the leadership issues, saying it is now left to the Party high Command to take a call on the issues.
Underlining the need to strengthen the party, Sardinha said the people of Goa are fed up with the BJP, saying that the Congress is the only party which can replace the BJP in the state in the 2022 election.
“I have discussed with P Chidambaram the issues facing the party and how to strengthen the party. Chidambaram has heard the party leaders and workers and will convey to the Party high Command on matters pertaining to Goa”, he added.
Saying that he has done his duty by conveying his view to Chidambaram and the party leadership on how to strengthen the party, Sardinha said ticket claims from many aspirants is not something new, but hastened to add that it is for the party leadership to choose the right candidate.
Meanwhile, the MP has urged the BJP government to provide jobs on merit, saying that large number of educated unemployed have been waiting for government jobs. He also demanded that the government should provide permanent jobs and not jobs on contract for the unemployed.
Terming the government decision not to hike power tariff and to provide 16,000 litres of water free to the people as election gimmick, the MP said the government should have announced these measures during the first and second wave of COVID pandemic to provide relief to the people.
Slamming the government for only making announcements on resumption of mining operations, Sardinha said the BJP-government has been fooling the people with resumption of mining. “The government should understand that mining has been the major revenue earner for the state along with Tourism. COVID has hit hard tourism for the moment and it is high time the government takes measures to resume mining”, he said.
Making a strong case for resumption of legal sand mining, the MP said the ban on sand extraction has only resulted in illegal sand mining and selling the sand in the black market in connivance with corrupt officials.
Reiterating his demand to restrict the Power of the Port to the Port jurisdiction, Sardinha urged the Goa government to lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
