The following article appeared in Goa's Oherald
newspaper on 12Feb2005 (www.oherald.com)
MARGAO, FEB 12 : -�The United Goans Democratic Party
has termed the performance of its lone MLA, Matanhy
Saldanha as Minister and MLA as �lackluster� and
�without any merits� and demanded an answer for his
failure to perform the task for which he was elected.
�Merely rendering service or claiming that he is a
jumping frog or a weather cock will not absolve him of
his prime responsibility to the constituency,� UGDP
secretary general Anacleto Viegas maintained. �Matanhy
speaks in a tone of self-righteousness and claims
purity of his virtues. We, in the party cannot applaud
his stance,� he said, adding �all the nuns, priests,
doctors, fisher folks and ordinary citizens who voted
for Matanhy do not have sellable consciences. It is
not Matanhy `sellability� which is at stake, but the
perceptions and aspirations of thousands who voted for
him that matters.� Saying that it�s the common man who
decides the fate of Matanhy and will decide it once
again at the elections, Viegas observed �may be the
conscience of Matanhy pays him at present, but will
not hold good at election time as it is the people who
vote for their aspirations and needs.� Admitting that
the UGDP decided to support the BJP in the wake of the
hung Assembly, Viegas, however, said that politics is
not dead, decadent or stagnating system of government.
�Time exposed the fallacy of the party choice when the
BJP let loose a reign of concealed agenda. The upper
castes grabbed the prime posts. The police was being
saffronised. Government vacancies went to the majority
community in a major way. The VCD sought to divide the
people on communal lines and ingrain in the youth a
sense of hatred for the minorities,� he said, adding
the UGDP would not sub-serve nor be a mute spectator
to the totalitarian ways of the BJP government. Viegas
further said �all this was happening while our
minister � conscience keeper of all Goans � slumbered
in the comforts of his air-condition chamber. Nothing
could prick his conscience as it was the holiest of
all � simply not purchasable.� The UGDP secretary
general further said the party did not receive any
assistance from the conscience keeper or the BJP to
grow during the last three years. �Except for a few
crumbs from the BJP dinner table, neither the BJP nor
Matanhy rendered any assistance in the growth of the
party,� he maintained. Saying that the party would
never ask Matanhy to sell himself, he demanded an
explanation why he has jumped into the UGDP bandwagon
after the minister�s numerous attempts to win
elections failed from the GLP platform. He alleged
that Matanhy hideously accepted the ministerial berth
sans nod from the party. Charging that Matanhy has
forgotten that he was elected on account of the Meta
Strips agitation, Viegas said �what Matanhy has done
is withdraw a few cases and give a clean chit to the
factory without consulting the activists.�.
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Joseph Fernandes
Malad Mumbai
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