MAPUSA
Scoffing at the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Calangute MLA and former Leader of Opposition in Congress, Michael Lobo on Monday said that a “march-past” will not fetch votes for Congress but working for the people like PM Narendra Modi does.
Lobo also said that Mahatma Gandhi was different and no one has a right to misuse the name of Gandhi.
“By doing some march-past on the road you cannot get votes. Bharat jodo yatra korun vote melona. Vote meuta kam korun. (One cannot get votes by taking part in Bharat jodo yatra. Votes are obtained by working). Work for the people as what our PM Narendra Modi is doing,” Lobo said.
Lobo had quit the BJP on the eve of the assembly elections and joined the Congress in March. He and his wife Delilah Lobo and another of his acolyte Kedar Naik all got elected as Congress MLAs but defected to the BJP last month.
The Calangute MLA said that farmers were getting Rs 500 directly in their bank accounts every month due to the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The farmers get around Rs 2,000 to 3000 in a year. That is called working for the people. Working for the people in the right direction is what we have seen in the last 10 years of Modi at the helm in the Centre,” he said.
He said even Swachh Bharat was a dream of Mahatma Gandhi.
“After him (Mahatma Gandhi) it was PM Modi who took up the Swachh Bharat campaign. What has the Gandhi family who were ruling the country for the last 60 years done? They have failed to do (anything),” he said.
Lobo said nobody should misuse the name of Gandhi supporting Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant on the issue.
“Mahatma Gandhi was a leader of different genre. Name of (Mahatma) Gandhi cannot be misused. He has sacrificed a lot and done a lot of work. If you look at this Gandhi…It is totally different,” he said.
“The whole country has seen it. We have also sampled it when we joined the Congress party,” he added.
