AAP leader says watchword for Goa Assembly poll is ‘corrupt out, honest in’
Special Correspondent
@the_news_21
Pune: Drawing parallels with the epic Ramayana, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Minister Viswajit Rane’s decision to contest against his father, 82-year-old Congressman and 11-time MLA Pratapsingh Rane from the Poriem Assembly constituency. Kejriwal decried what he called as the “mad rush for power” ahead of the Goa Assembly election.
In a pre-election video address, Kejriwal, called upon Goan’s to revamp the entire political system while giving a watchword of “corrupt out, honest in.” Like the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the AAP too is looking to make inroads into the idyllic coastal State of Goa.
The AAP created the video which has cleverly interspersed scenes from Ramanand Sagar’s popular 1980s TV series Ramayana, contrasting Rama’s sacrifice with the younger Rane’s statements.
Kejriwal in his video message remarked, “Viswajit Rane has proclaimed he would contest against his father and defeat him …What is happening in Goa? In the mad rush for power, people are even forgetting their own fathers… we are Hindus who worship Lord Rama, who, at the behest of his father, sacrificed the throne and went into exile. And Viswajit Rane from the BJP who calls himself a Hindu said he will defeat his father.”
Octogenarian Pratapsingh Rane who has been Goa’s longest serving chief minister, is being challenged by his son Vishwajit Rane, who is also Goa’s Health Minister and MLA from neighbouring Valpoi constituency which is less than 20 km away from Poriem.
Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Kejriwal reiterated that such a corrupt and morally-tainted government could never guarantee development for Goan’s in the future.
The Delhi Chief Minister further alleged, “One minister (Milind Naik) is embroiled in a sex scandal. While another takes money for jobs (PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar), while yet another is facing accusations of committing fraud in the labour sector (referring to Revenue, IT and Labour Minister Jennifer Monserrate) …such people will only fill their own pockets.”
The AAP national convenor remarked that the 2022 Goa Assembly election would be “a revolution” and called upon the Goan’s to weed out the old parties and politicians and make rule by the people possible.
The Congress had officially announced the elder Rane’s candidacy earlier this week after Viswajit Rane had exhorted his father to “gracefully retire” from the political arena, remarking that he had allegedly lost connection with the younger voters. Claiming that he (Viswajit Rane) had been managing the affairs of the constituency for the last 20 years, expressed confidence of winning the Poriem seat by a big margin of more than 10,000 votes.
With all major parties going hammer and tongs at each other, Kejriwal, who had addressed a big rally in Panjim earlier this week, dismissed the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC saying it “did not stand anywhere in the race.”
Speaking to newspersons after his recent rally in Panjim, the Delhi Chief Minister had remarked, “I think you people (media) give a lot of importance to the TMC…the party does not even have a 1% vote share as of now. It came to Goa only three months back… democracy does not function like this… one needs to work hard and work among the people.”
Meanwhile, the AAP’s Goa convener Rahul Mhambre said that it was only his party that could fulfill the vision of late chief minister and BJP leader Manohar Parrikar.
Mhambre remarked, “Parrikar’s inclusive policies have been dumped by the present BJP leadership… Goan’s will reject both BJP and Congress in the coming election because both these parties are essentially in agreement and want to stop the AAP.”
