PANAJI: Stating that Mr Manohar Parrikar provided good governance to Goa during his tenure as the Chief Minister of the state, and the people of Goa still miss him on that chair, the newly appointed Goa desk in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ms Aarti Mehra on Sunday said that all efforts would be made to bring back the party to power in Goa, during the
2012 assembly polls.
She also supported formation of pressure groups of the party at the central level, for monitoring the performance of the present state administration.
Ms Mehra. currently on the state visit, addressing a press conference at the BJP city headquarters also said that the party gives importance to minority communities in Goa, and she would be visiting Agnel Ashram, at Verna, to interact with its officials, as a part of the confidence building measures between the BJP and the minority communities in the state.
Observing that Goans deserve a sensitive government as provided by Mr Parrikar in the past, and not the like of present one, which is shrouded by various controversies as well as scams, including police-drug mafia-politician nexus and illegal mining, Ms Mehra said that the BJP would form its government by a majority, for which it would go up to the municipality and taluka level.
She further refuted allegations that in spite of effectively cornering the government in the House, during the recently concluded monsoon session of the state assembly, BJP was being softer on its former member and present Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat. Ms Mehra also maintained that the state government is not sensitive to the public health issues, and seems to be totally interested in public-private partnership mode for running the health services, thus raising doubts about involvement of kickbacks. Speaking further, the desk in-charge of the BJP for Goa said that whenever Congress government comes to power, irrespective of whether at the state or the central level, it brings along massive corruption.
"In fact, the Commonwealth Games scam, which should be described as the Congress wealth scam, is one of such examples, " observed Ms Mehra, who was the Mayor of Delhi from 2007 to 2009, informing that she had then requested the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh to start a single window system for carrying out the works as related to the Commonwealth Games.
"However, a special cell was set up by the PM's Office for the purpose, after much delay and it held only one meeting so far," Ms Mehra lamented, adding that the 19 stadiums existing in the national capital have developed some fault or the other.
She also said that the corruption in the Commonwealth Games has given a bad name to the country, and that the people are still unsure as to whether the sporting event would take place at all, as per the schedule. Alleging that the policy of the Nehru government to accord a special status for Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370 was a big blunder on the part of the former prime minister, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Ms Mehra strongly came out against the proposal of Dr Manmohan Singh as regards giving autonomous status to J&K. "Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and it should not be separated from the rest of the country by way of autonomy," she said, pointing out that on the contrary, the government should think about taking possession of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
Maintaining that the actual delivery of essential commodities in the country is not even 5 per cent, and rest is only paperwork, Ms Mehra flayed the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar for hoarding large quantity of wheat, and further supplying decayed wheat to the liquor lobby.
"The Agriculture Minister is only reflecting the bad governance and wrong economic policies of the central government," she opined, observing that middlemen are thriving in India, while the life of farmers has become pathetic. On parting note, Ms Mehra said that she would soon return to Goa to continuing the exercise for bringing back people's government led by the BJP, to power.
