Will create 40,000-50,000 jobs: Goa CM Pramod Sawant

Virtually conceding to a severe unemployment crisis in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said that late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise of providing 40,000 to 50,000 jobs in the coastal state would be fulfilled during the remaining three years of the BJP-led coalition government.

In his speech made during the inauguration of the campaign office of BJP’s candidate Sidharth Kuncalienkar for the upcoming Panaji Assembly bypoll, Sawant also said that the BJP would win the two Lok Sabha seats and four Assembly bypolls 6-0, when the results are declared on May 23.

“Even though youth in this state are facing large scale unemployment, in the next three years, this government will be a human development-oriented government. Human development is our priority. This is going to be a youth-centric government,” Sawant said.

“I say this yet again. Bhai (late Manohar Parrikar) made a promise about creating 40,000 to 50,000 jobs in Goa. Even though Bhai’s dream is incomplete, in the coming three years, we are committed to creating these jobs through various projects,” Sawant said.

He also claimed that large projects currently underway in Goa, like the greenfield Mopa International Airport, would generate employment to the scale promised by Parrikar, who died in office on March 17 this year.

Rising unemployment has been one of the major issues raised by the Congress in the run-up to the general elections.

In Goa’s congested electoral space, the BJP is currently facing tough competition from the Congress, erstwhile ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and from the Goa Suraksha Manch, a regional political party floated by former state Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar.

The results of three Assembly bypolls on April 23 and the upcoming bypoll on May 19 in Panaji, are expected to decide the fate of the Pramod Sawant-led government, which is surviving based on a thin majority.

BJP’s Kuncalienkar faces a tough contest from Congress’s Atanasio Monserrate, especially as political experts say that former state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, who is also contesting the bypoll, is expected to sizeably cut into the BJP's votes.