In Goa to revive a flagging Congress Assembly election campaign, party president Sonia Gandhi assured on Saturday that the contentious regional plan would only be finalised after consulting all stakeholders.
She also spoke about another on-going problem in the state, that of the medium of instruction in schools.
While a section of the parents want the medium of instruction to be English, the Congress-led government had been trying to ensure that Konkani be the medium of instruction in Goa and had even passed orders to promote those schools teaching in Konkani.
While the Congress manifesto released here had clearly stated that the schools teaching in Konkani would be given preference, Mrs Gandhi told the gathering in Margao that the parents should choose the medium of instruction.
Coming to the national scenario, Mrs Gandhi took a dig at BJP’s leader L.K. Advani and asked when the latter was the deputy prime minister of the country, why didn’t he take initiatives to get back black money stashed in foreign banks?
“What was the deputy prime minister doing then? He held the portfolios of both the Home minister and the deputy prime minister. What did he do about bringing back black money and about corruption all those years?” she asked.
“Of course, we must do everything in our power to bring back black money and rid our system of corruption. And that is precisely what the Congress-led government is doing methodically, with sincerity and in earnest,” she said.
Meanwhile, New Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who was also in the state for campaigning, justified the Congress’ offering tickets to more than one member in a family. Of the 33 seats the party is contesting from, 12 Congress tickets have gone to members of four families.
Stating that it was up to the electorate to decide whether to accept or reject such candidates, she asked, “If doctors’ children become doctors, why should politicians’ children not take up politics?” She added that an aspiring candidate could not be disqualified only because he or she was related to a politician.
In the state, PWD minister Churchill Alemao’s family itself has been given four tickets.