Headlines
Goa BJP legislator opposes axing of Oct 2 holiday
Panaji, March 15
Even as BJP spokespersons
shied away from commenting on the government's decision to drop Gandhi
Jayanti from the list of "commercial and industrial" holidays for this
year, a senior party functionary expressed "shock" at the deletion.
Speaking
to reporters here, north Goa Bharatiya Janata Party president Michael
Lobo said he would take up the issue with Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza.
"I am shocked
by this. You cannot disrespect the Father of the Nation," said Lobo, a
legislator from Calangute, a coastal constituency in north Goa.
On
Saturday, the Congress, quoting the state government's official
gazette, accused the BJP-led coalition government of indulging in
communal politics by dropping Gandhi Jayanti as a state-endorsed
holiday.
"This clearly shows the hidden agenda of the BJP
government. This seems like it is just the beginning. Hope the
government does not have holidays on Nathuram Godse's birth anniversary
in the future," Congress spokesman Durgadas Kamat said.
Official BJP spokespersons in Goa are unwilling to come on record on the issue