Vijai Sardesai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vijai Sardesai

• He started his political career with Indian National Congress, later joined BJP but at last, formed his own party the Goa Forward Party.

• He was born in Bueno Aries, Argentina. His father Jaivant Sardesai was an Entomologist (a scientist who studies insects) and served in the United Nations.

• He is a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly representing the Fatorda constituency and belongs to the Goa Forward Party.

• While in the cabinet he held several portfolios like Town and Country Planning, Agriculture, Archives and Archaeology and, Factories and Boilers.

• He is a real estate businessman.

• He has drawn flak from different sections of society by giving several controversial statements. In one such statement, he remarked about domestic tourists calling them Scum of Earth. He went a step ahead and said that the North Indians are not bothered about Goa and they are trying to convert Goa into Haryana. Also, he was unapologetic about the comments that he made about the North Indians and the domestic tourists of Goa.

• He was a stark rival of Late Mr Manohar Parrikar but later joined hands with him. He was much criticized over his decision which led to Goa Forward Party President Prabhakar Timble resignation after Sardesai and the other two party MLAs accorded their support towards the formation of the BJP-led government in Goa.

• He has been on various occasions target of opposition and critics. One such occasion was when he was handling agriculture portfolio and in a surprise raid by the F.D.A, Formalin laced fishes were found in the Margao and Panaji fish markets. He went a step ahead and said The F.D.A should be more vigilant rather than conduct raids “once in a blue moon”.

• He was alleged to be involved in unlawful activities with Xavier Marques, Mumbai Don and co-accused in the Churchill Alemao gold smuggling case. He is also allegedly involved in the Louis Berger bribery case. Later in November 2017, both the charges were dropped and an F.I.R seeking re-opening of cases against Sardesai was quashed by a local court. ^[1]GOAN OBSERVER

• He vocally supports the installation of Sequeira’s statue at the Porvorim complex. Jack de Sequeira was a Goan politician, it was because of him Goa was awarded statehood on 30 May 1987. He is also called as the  Father Of Opinion Poll.