Sonia vows special status to Goa, wipe out CRZ virus

BY A GT REPORTER
MARGAO: Urging the Goan voters to shun the BJP, the AICC president Sonia Gandhi yesterday promised to accord ‘Special Status’ to the state and save the ‘vulnerable section of society’ affected by the CRZ notification.
Addressing a massive rally outside Fatorda stadium yesterday, Sonia took a dig at the BJP, accusing the opposition party of spreading hatred among different faiths, citing examples of the incidents that took place in Orissa, Gujarat and Karnataka.
“Not only the minorities but everyone lives in fear. Terrorism thrives and affects every single person in the country. Can such a party fight terrorism? Can we even think of such a government at the center?”
She further sought the votes for Congress so as to provide a strong, stable government that protects and promotes secular values of communal harmony.
Stating that only the Congress party was sensitive to regional sentiments, Sonia boasted of the various achievements of the Congress party such as the reservations for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SCs/STs), the construction of dams, power stations, creation of public sector, LIC, nationalization of banks, the green revolution, etc.
In her brief address in English, Sonia recalled the commitment of the Congress party to the state she claimed Goa was being given the highest priority.
She further referred to the vociferous public protests over the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that she termed as ‘responsible activism’ wherein the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had obeyed the wishes of the people despite the pressures from certain influential sectors. And also expressed her satisfaction that the people of the state would be fully involved through the institution of the Gram panchayats in preparing the Regional Plan 2021.
To a thunderous applause, Sonia assured protection to homes and livelihood of those residing in the coastal belt following a request made to her earlier by Kamat.
She also spoke of the various policies, schemes and programmes of the UPA government like the Mid-day meal scheme, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence legislation that was passed under the
leadership of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who according to her had provided a transparent responsive government that provided employment.
Besides, also allocating unprecedented funds for the development of the infrastructure in the state such as schools for example that have been upgraded. So also the primary health centers (PHC).
Reminding that the Right to Information (RTI) Act that sought to empower the people was also introduced by the Congress government, the UPA leader further vowed to protect the environment for the future generation from climatic change.


Advani in her firing range


Sonia Gandhi also launched a frontal attack on the BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani for time and again calling Dr Manmohan Singh a weak prime minister.
Sonia reminded the people that terrorism had commenced during Advani’s tenure as the then home minister when India was attacked in Kargil, blackmailed at Kandahar and terrorists stormed the parliament.
She said, “are we not all aware of how things work in the BJP? Can the ex-home minister Advaniji today take any steps, any action without touching the feet of the RSS leaders? Can he do so? Absolutely not. They cannot do a thing, move an inch, say a word, take any action without the blessings and the clearance of the RSS.”
She termed the accusation made against the PM as ‘totally false’ and further recalled the then BJP president Advani’s visit to Pakistan wherein he had called the founder of that nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah as ‘secular’ but was made to relinquish his post on his return back to the country. “What happened to the strong man Advaniji? The RSS made him resign, he had to go into vanvas and only after he clarified he was given the opportunity to head the BJP. So I ask you, you tell me who is a strong leader? Is Advaniji, a strong leader or is our PM a strong leader?”

Gujarat iron man says bury vote bank politics

BY A GT REPORTER

PANJIM: Gurjrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi yesterday gave a clarion call to bury vote bank politics while urging the voters to vote for development with security. He was addressing a largely attended public meeting at Shivaji Maidan, Bicholim in support of North Goa BJP candidate Shripad Naik.

Modi said that the country was caught in the web of vote bank politics, which has eaten into the vitals of the country. The only solution is to bury vote bank politics and in stead go towards the politics of development. “Development is the only answer,” said Modi.

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s reported statement at Mumbai where he said that the first riot on the national resources was that of the Muslims. Strongly denouncing this, Modi said that this is not in the spirit of the Constitution.

“I say the first riot on the national resources of our country is that of the poor. The country requires a strong Prime Minister whereas the current Prime Minister is weak,” he told the crowd.

Elaborating further on this issue, Modi quoted Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan, who had said that that the Bangladeshi intruders must be treated as citizens of this country, be given a right to vote and to contest elections. “If you are as strong Prime Minister then why did you not remove Paswan from his ministerial post for his anti-India talk,” Modi asked.

He said that the Assam was being intruded by Bangladeshis and added that the situation was turning difficult for Assam due to vote bank politics of that government. On the contrary, he termed the Gujarat government as that of patriots.

He was disturbed over the government’s earlier moves of indulging in head count of Indian army on the basis of religion, which was subsequently aborted due to opposition from the army.

Turning his attention to terrorism, Modi came down heavily on Congress party’s criticism over BJP handling of Kandahar issue. “The Congress is criticising BJP for having exchanged terrorists for hostages. Who had stopped the Congress, when in the opposition from opposing this BJP’s step? The Congress was quiet before there was unanimous demand in the country, which wanted the government to get all these hostages back. He also cited other examples like Rudaiya Sayeed kidnapping episode and Char-e-Sharrif incident to expose the Congress party’s hollow game over terrorism issue. He also referred to other incidents like Mumbai train blast, Bihar flood and the naxalite issue to portray a green picture in the country under the UPA regime.

If voted to power, Modi said that the BJP would get the illegal monies deposited in Swiss banks to be used for the development of the country and in the interest of the poor.

In his concluding remarks, he posted three questions to the Prime Minister. Quoting the CAG report Modi said that in 2007-08, a sum of Rs 50,000 crore has been taken away from Indian treasury. He wanted Dr Manmohan Singh to explain this matter. In his second question, he drew Dr Singh’s attention towards Harshad Mehta scam and Satyam scam and said that both these matters occurred during the reign of Dr Manmohan Singh as Union Finance Minister and Prime Minister respectively.

“What did you do to stop this,” he asked the Prime Minister. Finally, he appealed to the people to vote for BJP to enable them to deliver a decisive government under a strong leader.

Others who addressed meeting were Shripad Naik, Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar and MLAs Francis D’Souza, Dayanand Mandrekar, Laxmikant Parsekar and Rajesh Patnekar. Pernem MLA Dayanand Sopte conducted the meeting.