Panaji: In an attack to its ruling coalition
partner in Goa, a Congress minister on Wednesday said the lack of
response for NCP chief Sharad Pawar's public meeting speak
volumes about the outfit's popularity in the state.
"I got shocked when I heard that when NCP leader and Union
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was addressing a public
meeting in the state and there were not even thousand people
to hear him," PWD Minister Churchill Alemao, who got elected
on a Congress ticket said Wednesday.
"When meetings are conveyed usually people come to hear
the leader," Alemao said, alleging that the people were paid
to attend the convention and hence went back after they got
their money without waiting for the main leaders to talk.
Alemao's statement came close on the heels of Goa Pradesh
Youth Congress Committee sacking its district president Tanvir
Khatib for helping NCP to organise crowd for its state level
convention in south Goa on January 30.
The developments after the NCP's state level convention
has exposed the fissures in the ruling Congress-NCP coalition
in Goa.
Reacting to NCP's statement to grow in the state, Alemao
said, "NCP can only dream of forming government in the state.
NCP's dream to form the government in Goa will never be
fulfilled."
The state level convention which was attended by around
10,000 people at Betalbhatim village in South Goa had
cautioned Congress not to take NCP's support for granted in
the state.
NCP leader Praful Patel had said the congress should not
treat NCP like a little boy.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 20:30