MAPUSA: Barely two days after resigning from the Congress party, former Aldona MLA Dayanand Narvekar on Sunday launched a new political outfit named as Goa Democratic Front.

According to Narvekar, the party would be contesting both the parliamentary seats in Goa.

Launching the new political party at a largely attended meeting near his residence, the former Congress man lashed out at the Congress party and particularly state unit president John Fernandes. He said that Fernandes was out to finish the party in Goa. 

Narvekar, who was known to be among the top senior Congress men in Goa, quit the party two days back claiming that he was disillusioned and feeling suffocated in the party with which he was associated for the last 35 years. “After leaving the MGP, I had joined the party and was with the Congress for the last 35 years but today it is sad to see the party going down day by day as it has no capable leader and neither is the leadership interested in salvaging the party.”  

Narvekar recalled his association with the party and the various posts he occupied including that of labour minister, finance minister, speaker and even deputy chief minister. He said that as finance and labour minister he had taken several initiatives for the betterment of the state but subsequent efforts were not taken. “As of now, we are also in the midst of a multi-crore scam due to mining and I demand that atleast twenty per cent of this amount should be given to the public before the forthcoming elections,” he said.

Stating that false assurances were being given by the Congress men to the people from time to time and that he had felt that it was high time he quit the party, Narvekar said that the Goa Democratic Front has been formed for the welfare of the state and added that the party would now continuously march ahead. 

Vikas Prabhu has been appointed as the secretary of the new Front with a formal committee likely to be in place shortly. A large crowd of around 500 persons attended the meeting. Prominent among those who were present were Sushma Narvekar, Ulhas Karpe, Max Furtado, Padmanabh Lotlikar, Maria Correa and others.