It's Dr Monserrate, not Babush!

TUESDAY TANTRUMS: By Ashley do Rosario
So, what is social activist, Aires Rodrigues, fighting about Education Minister, Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate's educational qualifications for?
Leave alone a Secondary School Certificate, the Education Minister is now flaunting a doctorate and signs his name with the 'Dr' prefix.
Earlier this month, the Archdioceasan Board of Education celebrated the Catholic Schools Day and in commemoration, released a souvenir, which carried four messages. The first was from the Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrao. This message, is followed by that of the Bishop Emeritus, Raul N Gonsalves. And then, in that order are those of Babush and the Director of Education, Dr Celsa Pinto.
Nothing wrong that the message of the Taleigao strongman, is interspersed with those of such illustrious personalities as the present Archbishop, the past Archbishop and the current Director of Education. After all, he's our education minister. But, what caught our attention, is that he's signed the message as 'Dr Atanasio Monserrate'.
Could it be an error on the part of Archdiocesan Board of Education, who published the souvenir? Well, inquiries revealed to us that it doesn't seem to be the case. What's printed on the souvenir is a scanned facsimile of the message sent by the Education Minister's office to the souvenir's editorial board. If it indeed is an error, it must have been committed at the Secretariat, by the personnel employed in Babush's ministerial office.
So, until such time as the air is cleared by this office, thanks to the Archdiocesan Board of Education's souvenir, Goans can breathe easy that it's not a non-matriculate (as Aires continues to allege) who is our education minister, but a 'doctor'.

Luizinho's chopper phobia

Now that he's failed to secure for Valanka his lawyer-daughter the Congress' South Goa ticket, PWD Minister, is threatening to name those who 'sabotaged' Valanka's chances. A bird that flew with Churchill from Delhi tells us that at the top of his list is none other than former CM, Luizinho Faleiro, who is the highest in party hierarchy among Goan Congress leaders, at Delhi.
Apart from chopper-hopping from one state to another in the North East, Luizinho, according to Churchill's bird, has also been touching ground at Delhi, to make sure his god-son's sister doesn't get to be the Congress' candidate. Salcetians will have to now brace up for another round of frenzied Luizinho-bashing from the 'kumpar', curtains for the first episode of which he is threatening to raise at the Lohia Maidan today.
But it's not Churchill's antics that's working on Luizinhobab's mind who has almost developed a phobia against chopper-flying in the North-East. According to a first-hand input, Luizinho is being told in constituency after constituency that he lands in the states he's been given charge of by the AICC, that several MLAs have been killed in chopper crashes.
So, if you've been one of those who's heard of Luizinho's chopper-flying sojourns, get ready to now hear how he's discarded this mode of transport which by far is the most convinient in the North-East.