BJP manifesto for Goa polls: 3 free gas cylinders, resumption of mining

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Congress’s poll promise of capping petrol price at Rs 80 per litre was “bluff”.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari (file photo)

Three free gas cylinders in a year for every Goa household, resumption of mining in six months, making the state a premier destination for co-working spaces and remote working post pandemic, and enabling it to become a USD 50 billion economy in a decade. These are among 22 pledges made by the ruling BJP in its manifesto for the 14 February state Assembly polls.

Releasing the manifesto at a hotel in Panaji Tuesday, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Congress’s poll promise of capping petrol price at Rs 80 per litre was “bluff”. “In two years the price of electric vehicles and petrol vehicles will be the same….I was surprised that Congress has assured petrol at Rs 80 per litre. They must’ve misunderstood. They know that I, as Transport Minister, have announced that four-wheelers, three-wheelers, autorickshaw will get flex engines soon. You can use 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent bio-ethanol and we have already issued an advisory about it. Toyota, Suzuki and Hyundai that have 70 per cent sale have already accepted it and in the coming days, all cars will work on flex engines. Bajaj, TVS and Hero bikes will also have it. So there is no need for petrol at Rs 80 per litre. This is a bluff in a way because at Rs 65 per litre you will be able to use bio-ethanol in petrol cars. This is a green fuel too and does not cause pollution like petrol,” adding “The future is green hydrogen and nobody will need to buy petrol in the future.”

The BJP manifesto included the BJP’s ‘Mission Gold Coast’ plan to “create an Olympic gold medallist for India from Goa” and transform the state into an international football destination, proposing to host the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the coming years.

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Taking a swipe at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Gadkari said, “Only ignorant people will say we will make Mohalla Clinics in Goa. Everyone knows that you get the best government-run health facilities free of charge in Goa’s government hospitals. There is no need for Mohalla Clinics here. The Goa government is already giving five-star medical facilities to the people of Goa, (where) heart ailments, cancer, everything is treated.”

Noting that Goa was known for its defections, Gadkari said the BJP brought political stability to the state. “Goa was a bageecha (garden). People would just stroll from one party to another. Goa was known for its party-hoppers. After all that if anyone could give a stable government for 10 years it was the BJP, that is why Goa got a stable and development-oriented government… And that is why what could not happen in 50 years, has been done in five-seven years by Pramod Sawant and Manohar Parrikar before him, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant went after the Opposition parties, including the AAP, TMC, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Congress, charging that some parties who came Goa to “open their account” have spewed falsehoods in their manifestos. “Those who have come to become national parties have made all kinds of false assurances, and the others who are trying to form a government piggybacking on someone else have made such alliances. I challenge (Congress leader and former CM) Digambar Kamat to submit a report card on how much of their 2007 manifesto they achieved till 2012 (during the then Congress rule),” he said.

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