from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji
May 24, 2007

Congress ends campaign's first phase

The Congress party today said that its first phase of campaigning for June Two Goa polls has ended and the party would secure majority in the assembly.

“The first phase of campaigning was very successful and we have already submitted the report to All India Congress Committee general secretary,” Ravi Naik, Goa Pradesh Congress committee president, told reporters here.

Briefing presspersons with Goa chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, Naik said that the party had been getting overwhelming support during its campaigning and would emerge as the single largest one in the polls.

Hinting at more aggressive campaigning during the second phase, Naik said that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi would address a rally in Panaji on May 26. “She is likely to address another rally in South Goa but the schedule about it is yet to be fixed,” Naik said.

Goa chief minister Rane said that the party aimed at scientific development of the state without affecting the environment. “Environment protection would be the focal point of the development,”Rane said.

Rubbishing criticism on Congress party for masterminding regional plan 2011, Rane said that the government would have a new regional plan after consulting all stakeholders.

BJP demands plugging of liquor inflow into state

The BJP has demanded sealing of Goa borders with Maharashtra and Karnataka to prevent transfer of unaccounted large liquor stocks from entering in the state in view of June two Goa assembly polls.

“There have been reports about the laxity on the part of the excise department to control  stocks and large scale movement of liquor in the state,” BJP in its  memorandum to Goa’s chief electoral officer has mentioned.

The BJP’s delegation led by national general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Goa chief Shripad Naik and Goa spokesman Govind Parvatkar, today handed over the memorandum.

The delegation demanded that special care should be taken to ensure that liquor was not used to entice voters during the campaigning.

The BJP has also apprehended that some real estate developers, on account of huge financial stakes involved in various types of land deals, might be pumping these funds into the state to support candidates of the incumbent government.

“The party feels that these funds might be related to various transactions made earlier but which are currently into limbo due to commencement of the electoral process and enforcement of the model code of conduct,” the memorandum reads.

“Therefore, such interested parties, which include real estate developers and some land-sharks, are urgently sending in large sums of money to ensure the compliance of their promised contracts and benami deals,” the BJP has alleged.

The memorandum has requested the CEO to initiate appropriate measures to prevent such unaccounted inflow of funds and seize them as and when detected.

'Election a chance to preserve liberation'

Goa elections is next important event in Goa’s history after liberation and this time people will execute their right to vote to save Goa’s liberation, BJP national spokesman, Prakash Jawdekar said.

“The regional plan that Congress has come out with, which was resisted by every Goan is temporarily shelved. If by any chance Congress gets to power they will bring back the regional plan again,” Jawdekar feared.

The BJP leader who is down in Goa to campaign for the party in June two assembly polls said that Congress is all set to sell Goa and this time, the people have to vote to save Goa’s liberation.

He said that every election has one important issue in any state and in any election. “There is one central issue, this time around Goa election is fought on one single issue of saving Goa and give permanent burial to the disastrous regional plan,” Jawdekar added.

The BJP spokesman said that Goa’s liberation has come with much sacrifice but beauty of democracy is that with one ballot you can make a revolution. “We can get rid of the regional plan by  putting Congress into the dustbin and we can be rejoicing the second liberation of Goa,” he said.

The BJP has said that voting for any other party than BJP is like voting for Congress. “The clear alternative has emerged and this time we don’t want a hung assembly but definite vote in favour of BJP and a complete majority on its own,” Jawdekar said.

Meanwhile, BJP has demanded that the UPA government should slash petrol and diesel prices by at least Rs five immediately as a measure to control inflation in the country.

“In the last six months international crude oil prices have come down from 78 dollar a barrel to 62 dollar a barrel. Also the dollar price itself vis-a-vis rupee has gone down. The dollar which was Rs 46 six months ago has come down to Rs 40 a dollar,” BJP’s national spokesman Prakash Jawdekar said briefing press persons in Panaji.

Jawdekar also said that the union government in a bid to give benefit to petroleum companies is taxing the common man.

“Why is the reduction in international crude oil prices not reflected in petroleum prices in the country?” he questioned demanding that the union government should immediately slash petrol and diesel prices by Rs five.

He alleged that the UPA government which can very well afford to slash the prices is not doing it only to benefit the petroleum companies.

The BJP leader said that the Congress has lost all the recent elections on inflation issue and will also face defeat in Goa on the same issue.
 
“An inflation is one such thing which hits everybody. Whether somebody is Hindu or Christian or Muslim, the most secular harassment for public is inflation. There is nothing religious about it,” he said.

This inflation, Jawdekar alleged, is not natural calamity but creation of Congress government.