To contest 30 seats; ready to pay ball with like-minded parties
Photo Credits: Goa Su-raj gets into poll mode announces two candidates
MAPUSA
Getting into the election mode, the Goa Su-raj Party on Saturday declared that it would field a minimum of 30 candidates for the 2017 assembly elections and also announced the names of two candidates in the first batch.
The party also said that it was ready for alignment with any other party for the good of Goa, but without compromising with the party’s constitution.
“Goa Su-Raj Party (GSRP) has decided to be the early bird to declare candidates for 10-Aldona and 11-Panaji, so that Goa’s electorate is sensitized of the acute need of Goa to have its own High Command in Goa,” said Floriano Lobo, General Secretary and spokesman of GSRP, while addressing the media at the party office on Saturday.
The party’s General Secretary and Spokesman Floriano Lobo will contest from Aldona, while party’s young face, Zico Rodrigues, has been fielded from Panaji.
According to Lobo, with 30 candidates in the fray, the party has sent a signal to the people of Goa that GSRP was ready to shoulder responsibility of running the government on its own.
“You need 21 candidates to get a simple majority in the House of 40 in the State assembly. We are ready. It’s for the people of Goa to decide,” said Lobo in his inimitable style.
The primary decision to contest from 30 seats was to avoid at all cost a non-performing coalition government with its inherent self-centered pushes and pulls, he said.
GSRP was established around 15 years back and has contested assembly election for four terms – 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2012. The maximum seats it contested was 8 in 2002 assembly polls, while fielding only 2 candidates in the last election.
“GSRP is not averse to form an alliance. We are ready to sit and discuss to do something good for Goa and the Goans,” the general secretary said.
He said the party was not going to compromise on two key conditions, that of restricting the cabinet to five ministers and barring MLAs from heading any corporations.
The present BJP-led government has failed in all its promises and has burdened the state with heavy public borrowing, he further said.
“The state of Goa is being run through heavy public borrowings, with public debts crossing all limits and presently standing at Rs 60,000 crore,” he said.
Further religious intolerance has grown out of proportions with the installation of the communal RSS-backed government at the Centre, he added.
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BOX 1
Headline:
Goans are corrupt, inclined to sell votes: Lobo
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THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: The Goa Su-Raj Party (GSRP) General Secretary and spokesman Floriano Lobo admitted that Goans were corrupt and inclined to sell votes during the election.
When The Goan questioned Lobo whether he thought Goans were corrupt he said: “Absolutely. Goan people’s mindset is corrupt.”
He then went on to relate two specific instances when Goans demanded money during his earlier election campaign in Aldona.
“I have rejected their offers and refused to pay up. I don’t mind losing the election, but will never compromise on principles and my party’s constitution,” Lobo said.
The 26-year-old Zico Rodrigues, the GSRP’s candidate for Panaji constituency, played the same tune.
“We are not in a hurry to get elected. We want to bring a change in the system,” Rodrigues said.
He said his topmost priority for Panaji was to clear the reeking St Inez creek.
“Time and again, every government announced grand plans to clear the stinking creek, but there’s no action whatsoever on the ground,” he said and vowed to take the clearing of the creek as of his top agenda.
He said he would also ensure proper footpaths with non-skid tiling and stress on zebra crossings on all major roads in the city.
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BOX 2
GSRP’s Road Map for Goa
* Only five-member cabinet to save crores of rupees
* Govt corporations to be headed by qualified people on hire & fire basis
* No to Mopa, only Dabolim
* Review/re-establish mining policy to benefit every Goan family
* Regional/ODP plans sealed for 10 years
* Sub-zero tolerance for corruption
* Gambling to be either banned or legalized as according to public hearings on the matter
* Single window clearance to acceptable industries
* Official language of Goa to be solely Konkani in Romi & Devanagri scripts
