Politicians cash in on Sao Joao celebrations in Salcete

| JUNE 25, 2018, 02:37 AM IST


the goan I network

MARGAO  

Sao Joao festivities came in handy for Salcete-based politicians to join the celebrations hosted by their supporters as sounds of Sao Joao reverberated around the taluka countryside on Sunday.  

If TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai hopped from one municipal ward to another in Fatorda since Sunday noon to partake in the Sao Joao revelry, Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao joined his supporters  and workers at Benaulim to celebrate the festive occasion.  

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Girish Chodankar also hopped from constituency to constituency, making his presence felt in Benaulim at the invitation of his politician friend Nazario Pinto, before heading to Vasco to join in the celebrations.  

Attired in Sao Joao revelries, Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Chief Pratima Coutinho also made her  presence felt in the city, and was seen along with Congress president Girish Chodankar at one of the  locations.  

The TCP Minister, who is believed to have sponsored groups of Sao Joao revelers in most of the wards in Fatorda constituency, made his presence felt at each of the venues to celebrate the occasion with his close workers. While extending his wishes to the people, he made a fervent plea to his workers to remain united for the betterment of Fatorda.  

Margao MLA Digambar Kamat made his presence felt at the O Re Sao Joao, a traditional form of Sao Joao celebration organized for the fifth consecutive year at Colmord hosted by former MMC  

Chairperson Savio Coutinho. The former Chief Minister, who attended the celebration with wife Asha and son Yogiraj, was all praise for the organizers for maintaining the rich tradition. He appreciated the sense of togetherness displayed by the people.  

At Benaulim, MLA Churchill Alemao praised the group of Sao Joao revelers at Pedda, saying the people there have maintained and kept alive the rich Sao Joao traditional till date. “We come across  commercialization having entered Sao Joao festivities. This is evident by the fact that programs are being organised on the commercial scale, but people of Pedda and other villages 

in Benaulim have  maintained the rich tradition”, he 

added.  

While extending his warm wishes to the people on the occasion, GPCC President Girish Chodankar  recalled his childhood days in Comba when he remembered how the young boys used to celebrate the festival till the railway gate. Girish made his presence felt at Benaulim with Nazario Pinto around noon even as he thanked the organisers for giving him the honour to preside over the celebrations.  

Elsewhere in Salcete, Sao Joao festivities was organised on a huge scale at Navelim, with youngsters jumping in the traditional well at Dongorim in the morning. 

Reports of festivities also came in from Raia, Curtorim and several other parts of 

the taluka.

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