Ponda: Announcing the formation of ‘Goa Rajya Nav Nirman Aaghadi’, a pressure group consisting of mining dependants, its leader Puti Gaonkar on Thursday launched an attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and declared his entry into politics with the motto of defeating Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the BJP at the upcoming state assembly elections.
Stating that the new outfit will support any party’s winnable candidates, who will contest against BJP in the mining affected areas, he said he is willing to fight the election from Sakhali against the Chief Minister if other parties support him. Gaonkar made these announcements by holding a press briefing in Ponda.
Gaonkar stated that contesting elections is not the only motive behind forming the Goa Rajya Nav Nirman Aaghadi outfit and added that the group’s prime focus will be on fighting for people’s rights, especially those of the mining dependent farmers and forest dwellers fighting for land ownership.
“I feel entering into politics will help us build up the pressure and it will also help articulate people’s concerns with more impact,” Gaonkar said. Criticising the BJP-led state government, Gaonkar claimed that the government has completely failed to deliver in the last ten years and
the Goa BJP has committed the biggest blunder in handling of the mining issue. “They have been playing with the sentiments of mining dependants for the last 7 to 8 years and mining-affected people are now fed up,” he said. “After mining, the BJP government has also destroyed Goa’s tourism industry and agriculture sector, breaking the economic backbone of the state,” he claimed.
“Former Governor of Goa Satya Pal Malik was absolutely right when he said that there is rampant corruption in the state in everything that the BJP government is doing. Even to get a job, huge amount of money has to be paid is a fact,” Gaonkar alleged. “Considering it, we have decided to launch the Goa Rajya Nav Nirman Aaghadi, which will act as a watchdog,” he said.
Gaonkar said presently the pressure group is eyeing eight constituencies of Sakhali, Mayem, Bicholim, Poriem, Valpoi, Curchorem, Sanguem and Dharbandora. “Most of these areas are mining affected and some areas are dominated by forest dwellers fighting for land rights,” Gaonkar said.
“In these areas, Goa Rajya Nav Nirman Aaghadi will support any party candidate, who is winnable and contesting against BJP. Defeating BJP is our aim, especially the Chief Minister,” Gaonkar said and added that he is willing to contest from Sakhali, as it is his workplace. “I have ground-level contacts with the people and if other parties support me, I can win the seat easily,” he said.
Gaonkar also made it clear that in Dharbandora, the pressure group will be supporting Vinayak alias Balaji Gauns, as he is an active member of the mining dependents’ movement.
The post Puti announces front, vows to defeat BJP appeared first on The Navhind Times.
Comments
Post a Comment