Saffron tilt? CM's banter over 'orange' t-shirt with Vijai fuels scribes' queries

Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai sporting an orange t-shirt with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai at the national skating championship at the SGPDA ground, Fatorda.

Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar

MARGAO
What’s in a colour? This question triggered a debate of sorts as the national skating championship at the SGPDA grounds brought together Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai along with Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai and BJP's Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar on Thursday.

After he found the Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai attired in an orange t-shirt, the Chief Minster was reportedly overheard remarking in a lighter vein that it would have been good if the opposition MLA had to sport the t-shirt earlier, thinking that Sardesai was wearing a saffron-coloured t-shirt.

Even as Sardesai went out of the way to explain to the media that he was not wearing a saffron t-shirt, but an orange colour t-shirt, and that too an imported one, the Chief Minister told the media that Vijai is his good friend, even though they have their political differences.

The Goa Forward chief, however, later told the media that the Chief Minister could not differentiate between saffron and orange colour. “I am wearing an orange colour t-shirt and not saffron which is associated with the BJP. We have to understand that orange and saffron are two different colours. The orange colour goes well on a hot summer evening,” Sardesai explained.

Suspecting that the media was trying to set a narrative, Sardesdai later posed a question to the scribes: What exactly they were trying to say about the colour, whether they wanted to conclude that he was bracing up to embrace the saffron brigade? And, Sardesai himself replied to his question, asking whether any purpose would be served now by him going to the BJP, leaving the Chief Minister and the Social Welfare Minister greatly amused.

When the media asked the Chief Minister for his comment on Sardesai’s orange t-shirt, he said he had come for the skating championship in Fatorda, adding that Sardesai and other dignitaries had also come for the same purpose. “Vijai is my good friend,” the Chief Minter said, as he sought to cap the discussion, but when the media pointed out that they have been bitter political enemies, Sawant shot back, “There will be political differences.”