Goemkarponn desk
VASCO: A day after joining Congress, Former BJP MLA of Vasco and present Congressman Carlos Almeida claims that the minority MLAs from BJP were sidelined post late Manohar Parrikar’s demise. Sidelining Almeida by the BJP resulted in Vasco’s underdevelopment, making him resign and join the Congress party considering that Vasco is a Congress-compatible area.
Carlos Almeida, former BJP MLA of Vasco who entered the Congress party, recently claimed that his coming to the Congress party in Vasco will boost the Congress position in the Port town. The Vasco area has been basically a Congress party compatible, and in the past several Congress MLAs got elected in Vasco.
Asked why he left the BJP and why there was not much development in Vasco when he was in BJP for two terms, Almeida further replied that during the tenure of late CM Manohar Parrikar, minority MLAs were happy and were taken into confidence by Parrikar as taking minorities together was his vision.
“…But after his demise, I felt that the minority MLAs were being systematically sidelined. My health was also not well. The sidelining of myself as a minority MLA led to the under-development of the Vasco constituency. I am confident that people will vote for Congress in Vasco this time because they are troubled with inflation, unemployment, lack of basic necessities and several other issues in the BJP government,” he said.
When asked about the comments made by some of the prominent persons from Vasco, he said that everyone has a right to give his opinion in Democracy, and nobody could stop it.
“Some of the allegations, like the Land scam of one person I made, were based on the documents available with me. It is surprising to see the reaction of some people that a few days back BJP leaders who had come to Vasco for some event were praising me and now all of a sudden I turned bad for them” Almeida said.
It may be recalled that recently, after the exit of Carlos Almeida from BJP, his arch-rival Krishna( Daji) Salkar has commented that Vasco has been liberated from the inefficient legislator. He had also blamed Almeida for the underdevelopment of Vasco.
On the other hand, Nandadeep Raut, former Mormugao municipal chairperson, has also opined that Almeida joining Congress will boost Raut’s position in Vasco, citing that the Congress will allow a new face indirectly suggests Raut as a Congress candidate. Whereas Vasco BJP Mandal president Deepak Naik had termed Almeida’s exit from BJP as too early.
Naik had also opined that BJP is strong in Vasco, and it would win in Port town.
