South Goa Member of Parliament Francisco Sardinha on Wednesday said he would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if the party leadership nominates him for the seat.
He, however, said that he will not contest the Lok Sabha polls as an Independent if the party does not nominate him for the seat. Saying that the 2024 Lok Sabha would be his last election in his four-decade-old political career, Sardinha, however, said he would support the Congress candidate nominated in the husting if his candidature does not find favour with the party.
“I will not contest the 2024 election as an independent. I have served the people of Goa. The people did not forget me when I was denied the ticket in 2014 as they had rallied behind him in 2019. If given the ticket, I will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election. I will remain with the Congress if the party decides to nominate someone else for the ticket,” he said.
The four-time South Goa MP slammed the government for the rising thefts, saying instead of challaning traffic violators, the police should go out to nab the thieves involved in vehicular thefts across the state.
Saying that power outages have become the order of the day across the state, Sardinha said if there are frequent power cuts before the monsoons, just imagine a situation on the power front after the monsoons set in the next few days.
On government plans to scrap the 15-year-old vehicles running in the State, the MP said the government should start the drive, beginning with the government vehicles. He, however, said the government should not act in haste against the private commercial vehicles when many could not repay the loans on these vehicles after mining came to a halt around a decade ago.
