Mangalore: I am MLA for all communities - J R Lobo at Rachana felicitation
Pics: Stanley Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NM/SP)
Mangalore, May 27: ‘Rachana’, a forum of Catholic businessmen, professionals, and entrepreneurs, organized a felicitation function in the city on Sunday May 26 at a hotel here in honour of recently elected MLA, J R Lobo.
Addressing the gathering, Lobo said that God guides destinies of people, and that He has plans for every individual. "I am grateful for the love and support of people. It is all God's plan, which gave me sudden inspiration. Politics was not at all a career interest for me earlier. I have worked with politicians, including Gundu Rao when he was the chief minister, and seen them from close quarters. I never dreamt that I would be a politician one day," he said.
“In my victory, people from all walks of life have helped through prayers, inspiration, and efforts. I could become MLA because of the divine support of the God. The fact that I have won in spite of being a Catholic candidate from Mangalore South constituency with a comfortable margin proves that people from across all sections of the society and communities had voted for me. Nearly 50 percent of my votes came from Hindus. My responsibility has doubled and I will do my best to serve everyone. I am an MLA for all people, and will take all the communities into confidence in developing my constituency,” he said.
Lobo further said that his victory has a special significance because of the fact that he had defeated four-time MLA and deputy speaker of the state assembly. He said that after the victory in the election, he is getting recognition everywhere, and receiving congratulatory messages for bringing Congress back to winning ways in Mangalore (south) constituency.
"Mangalore South constituency has its own special value. When I met Congress leader A K Antony and introduced myself as MLA of this constituency, he was very happy and appreciated the fact that my win had come against a strong opponent," he said.
"I was confident of securing victory by a margin of 6,000-8,000 votes as I was all the time on the field with the people. But a margin of 12,000 really surprised me," he added.
He identified core sectors for development in his constituency as tourism, information technology, industries, and education. He also said that towards achieving this objective, creation of infrastructure and maintaining peace are of utmost importance. "It will be my priority to create an atmosphere of investment and bring stable law and order in the city, and make it the number 2 in state," he said.
Thanking Rachana for honouring him, Lobo said, "It was the vision of Catholics that sparked the formation of Rachana. It has grown strong over the years. It has given me financial and moral support, and I urge Rachana and other organizations to give me their inputs and suggestions so that I can discuss them at higher levels and work better." He also thanked Ronald Colaco, M P Noronha, Roy Castelino, Stany Alvares and others for their wholehearted support.
Capt John Prasad Menezes introduced chief guest, J R Lobo and read out the citation, while Rachana president, Roy Castelino, who delivered the welcome address, felicitated Lobo. John Monteiro and Philomena Lobo were present at the function. Titus Noronha compered the programme.