Goa: MGP to back Central govt over naming of Mopa airport
Panaji (PTI): The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) on Tuesday said it would back the decision of the Central government on naming of the new airport at Mopa in North Goa.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had on Monday announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first phase of the international airport at Mopa on December 11. The airport, being built at a cost of Rs 2,870 crore, will be the second facility in the state in addition to the existing airport at Dabolim.
Political leaders in the coastal state have been at loggerheads about whom the facility should be named after.
MGP secretary Anant Naik told PTI that the party's central committee has taken a resolution that the Mopa airport be named after the state's first chief minister and founder president Dayanand Bandodkar.
"However, we are with the Central government in their decision on naming the airport," Naik said.
The MGP has extended support to the BJP and will back the party's every decision, he said.
A section of people are demanding that the upcoming airport be named after late Bandodkar, honouring his contribution to the state, post liberation from the Portuguese. The chief minister had earlier said that the decision of naming the airport lies with the Union Civil Aviation ministry.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ajit Pawar says he didn’t seek PM’s rally as Baramati contest is within family
Pune, Nov 8: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said he did not request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a campaign rally in his Baramati constituency because the fight there is within the family.
Pawar, the sitting MLA, is contesting against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, the candidate of the rival Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar.
The prime minister would be holding campaign rallies for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections starting Friday.
“Contest in Baramati is within the family,” Ajit told reporters here on Thursday when asked why the PM would not be holding a rally in his constituency.
The NCP led by Ajit Pawar is part of the ruling coalition along with the BJP and Shiv Sena.
Asked about NCP candidates also not seeking rallies of senior BJP leaders like Amit Shah in their constituencies, Pawar said it could be because there is not much time left for campaigning, and also due to the limit on election expenses.
Earlier in the day, when asked what would be his margin of victory in Baramati, the NCP chief said he would be able to tell that after moving around the constituency and talking to people. “But I can say with one hundred per cent certainty that it would be a good lead,” he said.
In the 2019 state elections, Ajit Pawar had won by a record 1.65 lakh votes, defeating BJP’s Gopichand Kundlik Padalkar.
