Interview: 'Goa has done well in job creation, BJP against casino culture,' says Devendra Fadnavis
Emphasizing that Bharatiya Janata Party's has a progressive road map for Goa, BJP Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said that BJP is still following the legacy of Former Chief Minister Late Manohar Parrikar.
Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday spoke exclusively to Gomantak Times ahead of assembly elections in Goa.
Here are the few excerpts from the interview:
What is BJP's vision for Goa in the next five years? When will you release the vision document?
Our vision document is ready and soon it will be unveiled in the presence of Union minister Nitin Gadkari. It is a progressive road map for Goa. In Goa, parties, who want to grab power say they will build the Taj Mahal if voted to power but we (our party) cannot say that because tomorrow we have to face people. Our vision is realistic and our effort is to see progress in Goa.
Former Chief Minister Late Manohar Parrikar had not permitted double-tracking and coal transportation. However, we have seen that the current government has permitted it, what is your take on that?
Whatever Parrikar had said is being followed. He had not entirely denied it, but whatever is hazardous to us and we will keep that away. Parrikar had a progressive approach and never went against anyone whether he was in power or not. When it comes to environmental issues, he was very firm. Our government will always follow the direction given by him.
Utpal Parrikar has decided to contest from Panjim while former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar has also left the party. What really happened?
Utpal Parrikar was offered two seats to contest this elections. We told him that we already have a sitting MLA in Panjim. We had given him the option to pick one seat from two constituencies. We offered him one seat where BJP has never lost and told him after 5 years we will accommodate you in Panaji. But he wanted to contest from Panaji from this election itselt. One cannot say - whatever I say has to be done - and demand such things. We are upset that Utpal, who is also a young worker, and the Parrikar family has left us. I feel the sometimes difficult decision has to be taken during elections. Whoever says that we have not given the ticket to Utpal is wrong, instead we had offered two seats to him but he rejected.
As far as Parsekar sir is concerned, I am upset with Parsekar because BJP has given him a lot and he also has done good work for the party. Manohar Bhai, Shripad and Parsekar sir have built the BJP into a strong party. We all know Parsekar was given positions in the party. In the previous election, though he was CM, he was defeated and now the situations have changed. Even after his defeat, our leadership including Amit Shah and other ministers had talks with Parsekar in front of me and told him that the political situation is so intense that he should not contest this election. For a person who has worked for so many years, we told him we will give him options position and responsibility in our party as we respect him, but Parsekar sir rejected our offer and wanted to contest this election. There are certain limitations and we cannot cross that. We cannot appease our people because that also sets us a bad precedent.
You released the BJP's manifesto for Goa polls in 2017. The party had put focus on two things - casinos and job creation. In the last 5 years, Goa's unemployment rate has increased and casinos are still floating on Mandovi. What do you have to say about that?
On the job front, if you look at the data which is released by the central govt, Goa has fared very well in terms of creating jobs. Now in goa, the youth only want government jobs, although it is a different thing. In the private sector, Goa has been a front turner in job creation, and so far as casinos are concerned, ultimately you have to run a govt, you need finances. In this case, if mining revenue would have been coming to the government then we would have completely stopped the casinos but that's not the case mining revenue is stopped and at this point, if all the casinos are shut down then how will the government get the revenue. We are not with the casinos, we don't want casino culture but right now as a part of our revenues we need casinos and that is why we have to sort of compromise.
Earlier, the candidates used to talk about policies after coming to power but now that has changed. Has it created any pressure on the party?
There is no pressure or anything, but there is competitive politics. Political parties say we will do this and that after coming to power without thinking whether it can actually be implemented or not. If you see the promise of AAP and TMC, they are some cards and schemes for women and youth. If you will go to Bengal you will see these schemes because that is not available there then how are they going to work on those promises here in Goa. Where are they going to get the money for it? Money cannot come from Bengal. If we go to Delhi, very few people know that free electricity is only given to people if you are consuming 200 units. If even one unit goes above 200 then that person has to pay the bill. These parties are indulging in marketing. Some of them have even made a card like debit and credit cards and distributed them to the people as if once you swipe you will get the money, this is absolutely bad politics.
