'Make me Minister for Garbage', desperate BJP MLA tells Goa CM
Panaji, Jun 21: Desperately angling for a ministerial berth, Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo on Friday urged Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to appoint him as "Minister for Garbage" in order to resolve the coastal state's garbage disposal woes.
Speaking to reporters here, Lobo, who earlier this week was promised a "bigger role" in the government by Chief Minister Sawant, also said, that lack of proper disposal mechanism for the burgeoning garbage dumps poses a big challenge for the state which is known as a beach tourism destination.
"For the last 25 years, so many MLAs, ministers and Chief Ministers travelled the world in their efforts to resolve the garbage issue. But they did nothing when they came back. There should be a ministry of garbage now. There are many kinds of ministries, but no garbage ministry, perhaps because it smells bad. No one wants to be a Garbage Minister, but I am ready," Lobo said.
Lobo has in the past, openly complained about the BJP not offering him a Cabinet berth, despite playing a key role during the formation of the BJP-led coalition government in 2017, although the BJP was in a minority in the 40-member state Legislative Assembly.
Goa's inability to manage garbage especially in the coastal areas, which often sees heaps of filth lining its roads and fields, has also been an area of concern for tourism industry stakeholders who have pleaded with the state government to resolve the issue.
Over the last one week, the town of Margao in South Goa, is facing a severe garbage crisis after a fallout between a private company managing the garbage dump on the town's outskirts and the state government over dump management processes.
Lobo also said that the garbage ministry could be solely funded from the garbage cess collected by the government on various transactions.
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PM's silence on Kharge's insult by Himanta is his consent: Rahul
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the use of "derogatory language" against party chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is an insult to the entire SC/ST community, and the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter "is not his helplessness, but his consent".
"If the prime minister sees an attack on the dignity of crores of Dalits in the country and does not speak up - he is not only shirking his responsibility, but is also a party to that insult," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
Gandhi said the use of "vulgar and derogatory language" by Sarma against Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge "is entirely condemnable, shameful, and unacceptable".
"Kharge ji is a senior and popular Dalit leader of the country - his experience, stature, and prestige are unparalleled. Insulting him is not an insult to one individual alone, but also to crores of people from the SC-ST community in this country," he posted.
This, he said, just reflected the "old and premeditated mindset" of the BJP-RSS and was nothing new, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said.
"Whether it is the insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar, belittling Dalit leaders, or personal attacks on representatives of the SC-ST community - the history of BJP and RSS bears witness that whenever a Dalit leader speaks the truth, they stoop to humiliate him," he posted.
"This is their ideology, this is their true character and face," he added.
Posing a direct question to the PM, he asked, "do you support Himanta Sarma's use of this language? Your silence is not helplessness, it is consent."
Sarma earlier hit out at Kharge, claiming that he was "speaking like a madman" due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges made against the Assam chief minister.
Slamming the Congress chief, Sarma said, "Kharge is ageing and is speaking like a pagal (madman)."
