MAPUSA: Making an emotional appeal to the voters, INDIA bloc’s North Goa candidate Adv Ramakant Khalap urged the electorate to consider May 7 polling day as ‘Bhaubeej’, and vote for him as their ‘bhai’.
Speaking at a public meeting at Calangute, Khalap said that he wants to take up issues as a gift for ‘Bhaubeej’.
“At so many places like Mapusa, consumers are forced to buy tanker water. This is an important issue. As you consider me your ‘bhai’ (brother), I consider you as my sisters and brothers. I urge you, on May 7, consider this day as ‘Bhaubeej’, and instead of applying tilak on my forehead with your finger, instead use your finger to press the Congress symbol on the voting machine. And a gift from me, I will be your voice in the Lok Sabha. As Bhaubeej, I want to take up issues of the state,” he said.
Khalap said that a solution needs to be formulated on the CRZ issue, which threatens demolition of many homes.
He also defended the Mapusa Cooperative Bank, of which he was a promoter. He said that the bank has helped so many people purchase taxis and motorcycle pilot bikes.
“When I meet a taxi driver or motorcycle pilot, they tell me ‘Bhai, do you want to be dropped somewhere? This is your vehicle, as it was brought using the loan taken from your bank’. We have helped so many people through the cooperative sector. They took over the bank and finished it. And now, after 20 years, when BJP thinks it is losing the North Goa seat, they threaten me to reopen the bank case. I challenge them to do it,” he said.
Khalap said that many coastal areas experience low voltage that causes equipment damage.
On granting licences to tourism stakeholders, Khalap said that businessmen should not be harrassed.
Khalap condemned dance bars and prostitution activities in the coastal belt and said the authorities are turning a blind eye
He also said that the Calangute Association Ground has been usurped by the government.
Aldona MLA and coordinator for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat, Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira warned that the government is making empty promises to protect structures that are threatened due to the CRZ law.
“The Congress Party thinks of the common man. I had even suggested how to amend the CRZ law and save old houses of Goan.
