Politicians from the Congress as well as the BJP in Goa, are sparring over the use of the word “garbage”, to describe Congress legislators joining the BJP with elections to the State legislative Assembly, likely to be held a few months later.
The spat started on Tuesday, after State Congress president luizinho Faleiro’s, comment on the exit of its MlA Mauvin Godinho last week from the party and joining the BJP. “The more garbage which the BJP takes from us, the more cleaner we become,” Faleiro had said.
Elected to the Goa legislative assembly on a Congress ticket from Dabolim legislative assembly seat, Godinho has been critical of his party for the last four years, even locking horns with top Congress leaders over several issues and blaming Congress leaders for rampant corruption in past ruling dispensations.
Godinho, formally quit as MlA and from the Congress membership and joined the BJP on Friday, the day when Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting in South Goa.
Godinho, however had a string of corruption charges against him, which were filed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, when he was Opposition leader in Goa. One of the graft cases is currently being heard in the Supreme Court.
“The BJP is really a party with a difference! The party which was calling him one of the most corrupt ministers is now accepting him in their ranks. The BJP is actually calling him a clean leader now after calling him corrupt all these years,” Faleiro said.
Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar however had a sharp repartee for Faleiro and his reference to Godinho, comparing the latter to garbage. “We convert garbage into manure,” Parksekar said on Wednesday.