Another June 2007 article, which I only just noticed while checking the Saligao-related news online. Might be of interest to those with a political interest :-) FN
http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=060835 Willy blames Sena, MGP for BJP's Saligao victory NT Staff Reporter Panaji, June 7 The outgoing deputy chief minister and ousted Saligao MLA, Dr Wilfred de Souza has said that the absence of Shiv Sena and a strong Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party led to the consolidation of votes in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) causing it to win the Saligao seat this time. In an interview to The Navhind Times, Dr de Souza said that in contrast, the votes of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were split three ways between the NCP, the Save Goa Front and the Independent candidate, Mr Trajano D'Mello much to the detriment of the NCP. Dr de Souza has represented Saligao constituency ever since it was formed after statehood and the first elections were held in 1989. The high point of Dr de Souza's career according to him is that he has been the chief minister of Goa three times. Despite his loss, Dr de Souza was upbeat about the gains of his party. "In the 2002 elections, I was alone. In the mid-term elections, we became two. Now we have three MLAs. The NCP has been progressively increasing its numbers,'' Dr de Souza said. When asked whether he saw a role for himself in Goan politics now, Dr de Souza said he did not know yet. "I don't know. I will rest awhile and take a decision later. Maybe I will take a tour or something to regain my vitality. I am not young anymore,'' he said. Dr de Souza enumerated a few issues, which he said the new government should ardently pursue. He expressed much concern about the pending work of the removal of the stranded ship -- the River Princess. He said the work on the River Princess is going on even now. When the engineers got the bottom of the ship, they discovered that a portion of the ship's bottom was missing. They have now fixed that missing part. Dr de Souza said he has instructed the Tourism Director to call a press conference and inform the media about the exact status of the removal work. Dr de Souza said the government should also urgently address the issue of garbage disposal in Goa. When he was in power, he had initiated a programme to convert Goa's "waste into wealth,'' he said explaining that the 400 tonnes of daily waste in Goa could be converted to 10 megawatts of power by incinerating the waste. He hoped the new government would pursue that programme and several other programmes including the work of underground electricity cabling in Goa. When asked for his observations on the outcome of elections 2007, Dr de Souza did a quick recap of the results. "The Congress had 16 seats last elections, this time they got 16. The BJP had 17 seats last time, they lost three and got 14. The NCP had one seat, now it has three, while the UGDP which had three, now has only one. The Save Goa Front was not there, it now has two seats. Last elections, there was one independent in Felipe Neri, now there are two independents. People wanted a change, they got change,'' Dr de Souza said. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ _______________________________________________ Saligao 403511 website http://saligao.goa-india.org Saligaonet mailing list Saligaonet@goacom.org http://lists.goacom.org/mailman/listinfo/saligaonet
