Margao: A heated exchange broke out between Sanguem MLA Subhash Phal Dessai and councillor Meshu D’Costa at a Sanguem Municipal Council meeting on Tuesday over the installation of a portrait of Opinion Poll leader Jack Sequeira on the municipal premises.The row began after D’Costa installed the portrait without informing the chairperson or chief officer. Chairperson Santiksha Gaonkar said the council had earlier resolved to install portraits of Opinion Poll leaders Jack Sequeira and Shabu Desai, along with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Bhagwan Birsa Munda. “However, D’Costa installed the portrait without informing me or the chairperson,” she said.During the meeting, Phal Dessai objected to the portrait’s size and the text accompanying it, prompting a sharp reaction from D’Costa, who accused the MLA of making insulting personal remarks.Speaking to reporters later, Phal Dessai said the reference to Maharashtra in the text was “degrading and shameful” and added that portraits should follow established norms in size and presentation.D’Costa dismissed the objections. “The text is not demeaning in any way. What Sequeira said during the Opinion Poll movement was that Goa would not become a backyard of Maharashtra — and there is nothing degrading about that. It is because of leaders like Jack Sequeira that Subhash could become an MLA, and I a councillor,” he said, adding that the unveiling of all four portraits will be held later.
