Both Mr Francisco Sardinha 59 year an ex teacher INC MLA Curtorim and Ms Victoria Fernandes 71 yrs (26th July) (affectionately called Mummy) an ex teacher INC MLA Santa Cruz were elected this afternoon the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the Goa Legislative Assembly, in a House with effective strenght of 37.
Curtorim in Salcete is the birth place of the duo The BJP candidates Priol MLA Mr Vishwas Satarkar and the Tivim MLA Mr Sadanand Shet Tanavade were unsuccessful. It may be recalled that in the House of 40 the Velim Independent MLA Mr Filipe Neri Rodrigues disqualification issue is subjudiced and elections of both Mr Rajendra Arlekar (SC) the BJP ex- MLAs Vasco-da-Gama and Mr Dayanand Mandrekar have been set aside. With the election of Ms Victoria Fernandes as Deputy Speaker the State has its first woman Deputy Speaker in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Ironically while the INC has been going hammer and tongs over the issue of 33% reservation for women; in Goa the INC led NCP MGP coalition did not deem it fit to give a woman representation in the Cabinet. But it appears that Mr Rane was guided by the fact that her miserably poor victory margin in the June 2002 elections a mere 40 votes was not convincing enough for him to provide her a cabinet posting. Ms Fernandes has been an exemplary woman of substance very amiable gutsy and could appropriately be described as a "man in dress" for she has been in the forefront on several issues affecting the traditional occupations of Goans the Ramponkars the toddy tappers and womens issue. Even in the just concluded bye-elections Ms Fernandes gave vent to her bitterness over the communal agenda of the BJP headed by Mr Manohar Parrikar and can be safely attributed the credit for the victory of INC NCP candidates in the fray. GODFREY J I GONSALVES Borda Margao Goa [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your friends 'n family snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://in.photos.yahoo.com