News Analysis India

Tag: Goa

  • BJP is banking on Cong defections for forming next govt in Goa, Kejriwal claims

    By PTI

    PANAJI: The ruling BJP’s “strategy” after the Goa Assembly elections would be to woo Congress legislators and form government again, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed on Tuesday.

    The Aam Aadmi Party leader arrived in the coastal state for a four-day campaigning tour ahead of February 14 elections.

    Speaking to reporters at the airport, he said, “This Assembly election is crucial for Goa. Goans must decide what is best for them. One option is to support the AAP, which has promised a corruption-free government. Another option is to support the BJP directly or indirectly. In the last election, Goans were fed up with the BJP government and chose Congress. But Congress MLAs let them down,” he said.

    The situation was the same this time with talk of Congress defections in every part of the state, Kejriwal said. “The BJP has planned a new strategy. Once Congress candidates win their seats, they are going to join the BJP,” he claimed.

    ALSO READ: Atanasio Monserrate Babush: Social worker candidate in Goa owns fleet of cars

    The BJP knows that it cannot form a government without winning across the Salcette bastion of Congress, so it has put up seven candidates in the constituencies in the area on Congress ticket and is financing them, he alleged.

    In 2017, Congress had emerged as the single-largest party, but it could not form a government. Most of its legislators deserted the party over the next five years.

  • Goa polls 2022: Congress-GFP accuse Trinamool Congress of collecting data via voter awareness drive

    By PTI

    PANAJI: The Congress and Goa Forward Party on Saturday alleged the Trinamool Congress and poll strategy firm IPAC were collecting voter data in a “dubious manner” in the run up to the Goa Assembly polls scheduled for February 14.

    Goa Congress general secretary Sunil Kawthankar and GFP general secretary (organisation) Durgadas Kamat told reporters the two parties had jointly submitted a complaint with the Chief Election Commission in New Delhi against the TMC and IPAC.

    Kawthankar claimed the TMC and IPAC are giving out cards to women claiming they will get money once the Mamata Banerjee-led party comes to power here, and in the process were collecting personal details. “The TMC claims some three lakh women and over two lakh youth have enrolled for these schemes. It is not an awareness drive for their 2022 election campaign, but in fact a massive data collection drive in a dubious manner, which will be used for other purposes,” he alleged.

    Kamat said a complaint has been lodged with the CEC and promised the TMC and IPAC would not be allowed to carry on with this exercise.

  • Goa elections: Congress’ Pratapsingh Rane withdraws from fray after BJP fields kin from same seat

    By PTI

    PANAJI: In a setback to the Congress in Goa, party veteran and former state chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, whom the grand old party gave ticket from his traditional Poriem seat for the next month’s Assembly elections, has now withdrawn from the poll race.

    Although Rane was not available for comment, a Congress leader on Friday confirmed that the former CM has told the party that he will not be contesting the February 14 election.

    Sources close to Rane told PTI that the veteran leader has decided to withdraw from the fray to avoid a clash with his daughter-in-law, Deviya Rane, who will be contesting the election from Poriem constituency as a candidate of the ruling BJP.

    Rane (87), who has served as the chief minister of the coastal state for six times, had won from the Poriem Assembly constituency as many as 11 consecutive times. “Pratapsingh Rane has confirmed that he won’t be contesting the upcoming polls from Poriem, after which the party has selected another candidate from the seat,” a Congress spokesperson said.

    The BJP has nominated his daughter-in-law Deviya Rane, wife of state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, from Poriem. Reports were rife that Pratapsingh Rane might suggest the name of his wife, Vijayadevi, to the Congress as its candidate from the seat.

    But the revised list of candidates, which the Congress announced on Thursday evening named Ranjit Rane as its nominee from that constituency. Reportedly, the BJP had earlier tried to convince Pratapsingh Rane to contest on its ticket from Poriem before announcing the name of his daughter-in-law.

    The incumbent Pramod Sawant-led Goa government has bestowed upon Rane the lifetime cabinet status for completing 50 years as a legislator. Rane was elected from Poriem constituency for the first time in 1972 on the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), but fought all subsequent elections till 2017 as a Congress candidate.

    In the 2017 polls, he had secured 54.27 per cent votes in the constituency winning with a major margin.

    Deviya Rane will be contesting her maiden Assembly election, while her husband Vishwajit has been winning from Valpoi Assembly segment since 2007, first as an independent, then as a Congress candidate, before he joined the BJP.

  • Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha sniffs ‘dictatorship’ in BJP’s ‘double engine’ talks

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) vice-president Yashwant Sinha on Monday dubbed the BJP’s oft-repeated phrase ‘double engine governments’ as a way to promote “dictatorship”.

    The former Union minister assured that pre-poll promises made by the TMC in Goa would be implemented if the Mamata Banerjee-led party comes to power in the coastal state after the February 14 assembly polls.

    Talking to reporters here, the bureaucrat-turned-politician said, “Sometimes in ‘double engine governments’, it is possible that one engine goes in one direction, and the other in another direction. On a serious note, I want to mention that if the central government of the BJP is trying to emphasize on wanting to run double engine governments then all they want is to run a dictatorship.”

    He said insisting on ‘double engine’ means the BJP does not want any other party to come to power in states and form government. “Today, they are talking about double engines with respect to state governments, tomorrow they will talk about triple engine with respect to panchayats. How will this work?” he questioned.

    As part its ‘double engine’ campaign narrative, BJP leaders appeal to voters to select the same party (BJP or the alliance led by it, NDA) in poll-bound states as the one ruling at the Centre to ensure better development of their states.

    Sinha said the TMC’s pre-poll assurances in Goa are doable and the party will implement them when voted to power. The TMC has forged an alliance with Goa’s oldest regional party MGP for the assembly polls. “It is my personal assurance that the pre-poll promises made by the TMC in Goa would be implemented,” he said.

    Three welfare schemes announced by the TMC – targeted at different sections of the society, including women and youth – will be implemented as soon as the party forms a government in Goa, Sinha said.

    The former Union finance minister said these schemes – Griha Laxmi, Yuva Shakti and Mhaje Ghar, Maalki Hakk (My Home, My right) – can be funded with government money and implemented with proper fiscal management.

    Sinha said these welfare schemes together will cost the government around Rs 3,300 crore annually and they can be implemented without imposing any additional tax on people or borrowing funds from the market.

    “In terms of the norms which have been fixed by the Finance Commission and the Reserve Bank of India, Goa already has an additional fiscal space of Rs 2,100 crore. So, that leaves us with Rs 1,200 crore (more), and in a (state) budget of Rs 25,000 crore, this amount can easily be allotted and spent on these welfare schemes,” he added.

  • AAP, Trinamool, Shiv Sena fared poorly in previous Goa polls: Election data 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Goa appears set for a multi-cornered contest where a fractured opposition is attempting to overthrow the BJP, which has been in power in the coastal state for the past 10 years.

    Congress has been insisting that it is the key challenger to the BJP and other parties – Trinamool, AAP, NCP-Shiv Sena – in the fray after failed talks for an alliance could only end up muddying its chances.

    A look at the previous election results shows that the BJP had polled the maximum votes – 32.48 per cent – to emerge victorious on 13 seats in the 40-member assembly, while the Congress had garnered 28.35 per cent votes and won 17 seats.

    In percentage terms, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) had polled 11.27 per cent votes and managed to win three seats, while 58 Independent candidates had together garnered 11.12 per cent votes and three had emerged victorious.

    The AAP, which has unveiled grand plans for Goa and declared Amit Palekar as its chief ministerial face, had polled 6.27 per cent votes in the 2017 elections and failed to open its account, while Sharad Pawar-led NCP had managed to garner 2.28 per cent of the total valid votes and won one seat.

    The Shiv Sena, which plans to contest the Goa elections in alliance with the NCP, had managed to poll just 0.09 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the 2017 elections.

    “Politics in Goa is largely controlled by land mafia, Shiv Sena wants to put the common man at the centrestage of politics in the state,” Sena leader Sanjay Raut had told the media.

    He had said the Shiv Sena and the NCP were keen to form a Maharashtra-like alliance with the Congress in Goa, but the efforts came a cropper.

    For the 2022 elections, the Congress has entered into an alliance with the Goa Forward Party, while the BJP has refrained from entering into any coalition and plans to put up candidates on all the 40 seats.

    The Trinamool Congress has entered into an alliance with the MGP and weaned away leaders from the Congress and the NCP claiming to be the real challenger to the BJP.

    The Trinamool was not in the fray in Goa in 2017 elections, but had put up 20 candidates in the 2012 elections and managed to poll 1.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

    “Trinamool Congress is not a headache for the BJP. It is a headache for the Congress and Goa,” former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP in-charge of Goa elections Devendra Fadnavis told reporters here.

    In the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP had polled 34.68 per cent votes, followed by the Congress (30.78 per cent), the MGP (6.72 per cent), the NCP (4.08 per cent), Independents (16.67 per cent) and the Shiv Sena (0.02 per cent).

  • Utpal Parrikar is welcome to join AAP, says Kejriwal

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said his party will welcome Utpal Parrikar, son of former Goa chief minister late Manohar Parrikar, if he is willing to join it.

    Utpal Parrikar has been lobbying to get the BJP’s ticket for the Panaji Assembly seat, which his father had represented for more than two decades.

    But the ruling party has given him the cold shoulder. Assembly elections in Goa are scheduled to be held on February 14.

    Apart from the BJP and the Congress, the AAP, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), among others, are in the fray.

    Replying to a question asked during his interaction with mediapersons here, Kejriwal said, “I respect Manohar Parrikar. If his son is willing to join AAP, he is most welcome.”

    Panaji constituency is currently represented by BJP MLA Atanasio Monserratte.

    Recently, BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis had targeted Utpal Parrikar, saying that just because an aspirant is the son of Manohar Parrikar or any leader, didn’t qualify him for the BJP’s ticket.

    Kejriwal has been in Goa since Friday.

    During his visit, he participated in the party’s door-to-door campaign at St Andre, Shiroda and Cortalim constituencies.

    Responding to a question, the Delhi Chief Minister said his that if required, his party will go ahead with forge a post-poll alliance with non-BJP political outfits in Goa.

    “But why would someone vote for Congress? People know that if they vote for Congress, once their MLA gets elected, he will go to BJP,” he said.

  • Doesn’t BJP believe in integrity, character, asks late Goa CM Manohar Parrikar’s Son Utpal

    By PTI

    PANAJI: A day after being snubbed by senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis over poll ticket, Utpal Parrikar, son of former Goa chief minister late Manohar Parrikar, on Thursday asked whether the party believes in integrity and character or not.

    He also said that the BJP leaders from Panaji assembly constituency, who earlier worked with his father, are currently supporting him in his campaign.

    On Wednesday, Fadnavis had said that the party can’t give a ticket to anybody for the February 14 Goa assembly polls just because he is a son of a leader.

    His comment was apparently aimed at Utpal Parrikar, who has been lobbying to get the party’s candidature from the Panaji assembly seat.

    Panaji constituency is currently represented by BJP MLA Atanasio Monserratte, who had shifted from Congress to BJP in 2019.

    “I am a small party worker and cannot comment on what senior leader like Devendra Fadnavis has said. But if I wanted to ask for a ticket just because I am son of Manohar Parrikar, then I would have demanded it last time (during the by-election held after the death of Parrikar),” he said.

    The former defence minister died on May 17, 2019.

    Utpal Parrikar said that he continues to meet the voters in Panaji constituency.

    “Those BJP leaders who were with my father right from 1994 are currently with me,” he said.

    Expressing unhappiness over the way “things are happening in Goa”, he asked whether integrity and character do not matter.

    “Will the party give ticket to the person with criminal antecedents in the constituency represented by late Manohar Parrikar?” he asked, apparently referring to Monserratte, who is currently facing a trial in a rape case.

    “This is not just about Panaji. The political situation unfolding in Goa is not acceptable. It has to change,” Parrikar said.

  • Mhaje Ghar, Maalki Hakk: Goa TMC’s next poll promise

    By Express News Service

    BELAGAVI: After the tremendous response the TMC got for its poll promises like Yuva Shakti Card and Griha Laxmi, ahead of the assembly elections in Goa, the Mamata Bannerjee-led party launched another poll promise, ‘Mhaje Ghar, Maalki Hakk’ in Panaji on Tuesday.

    “It is a landmark housing rights scheme that aims at securing the housing rights of Goans which is a constitutional duty of any government, and is interpreted as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 (Right To Life),’’ the Goa TMC said.

    Under the scheme, the TMC-MGP alliance will ensure that within 250 days of forming the government, all Goan families residing in Goa since before 1976 will be provided with title and ownership rights of land under possession, and 50,000 subsidised homes to homeless families.

    In addition, TMC will operationalise pro-people legislations like the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964, and the Goa, Daman & Diu Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975, on the ground and take the cause further, said TMC Goa leaders during the launch of their fresh promise to Goans. It is time to bring an era of pro-people legislations which seek to protect the lives and livelihoods of Goankars, TMC adds.

  • Goa TMC announces another poll promise ‘Mhaje Ghar, Maalki Hakk’

    By Express News Service

    BELGAVI: After the tremendous response TMC got for its poll promises like Yuva Shakti Card and Griha Laxmi ahead of the assembly elections in Goa, the Mamata Bannerjee-led party launched another poll promise ‘Mhaje Ghar Maalki Hakk’ in Panaji on Tuesday.

    “It is a landmark housing rights scheme that aims at securing the housing rights of Goans which is a constitutional duty of any government and is interpreted as a Fundamental Right under Article 21 (Right To Life),” said Goa TMC.

    Under the scheme, the TMC-MGP alliance will ensure that within 250 days of forming the government, all the Goan families residing in Goa since before 1976 will be provided with title and ownership rights of land under possession and 50,000 subsidized homes to homeless families. 

    In addition, TMC will operationalise pro-people legislations like The Goa Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964 and The Goa Daman & Diu Mundkars (Protection from eviction) Act, 1975 on the ground and take the cause further, said TMC Goa leaders during the launch of their fresh promise to the Goans.

    It is time to bring an era of pro-people legislation which seeks to protect the lives and livelihoods of Goenkars, TMC adds.

  • Goa: 66 of 2,000 people on board cruise ship test Covid-19 positive

    By PTI

    PANAJI: As many as 66 of the over 2,000 people on board the Cordelia cruise ship, which came to Goa from Mumbai, have tested positive for Covid-19, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Monday.

    The cruise liner, where the NCB busted a high-profile rave party in October last year, was carrying hordes of New Year revellers.

    A medical team in PPE kits came on board to conduct RT-PCR tests of the passengers and crew members, and the sample testing process continued till Monday afternoon.

    The testing of those on board the vessel was necessitated after a crew member was found infected with the coronavirus on Sunday, an official said.

    Officials had instructed that no one should disembark from the ship till the result of the RT-PCR tests was declared. The liner is anchored close to Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) cruise terminal.

    In the afternoon, Rane tweeted, “Out of 2000 samples tested from Cordelia cruise ship, 66 passengers tested positive for #COVID19. Respective collectors and MPT staff have been informed. The authorities will decide whether to allow disembarking of passengers from the ship.”

    The ship, operated by a private firm, had arrived at Mormugao Port Trust in Goa on Sunday.

    A day ago, Goa had reported 388 new Covid-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 1,81,570, while one death raised the toll to 3,523, as per official data.