PANJIM: With an eye on the 2017 polls, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar distributed over 10,000 sarees to women in Mandrem constituency as “bhaibuj” gifts, alleged Congress.
Senior Congress leader Ramakant Khalap informed the media that the Chief Minister has distributed sarees to each woman in every household in Mandrem ahead of the elections. “The constituency has over 35,000 voters with more than half being woman voters. He has distributed sarees to all of them,” he said. “Many women have rejected the gifts while few have burnt it with an effigy of Ravan,” Khalap claimed.
Congress has demanded that anti-corruption agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED), ACB should take suo-moto cognizance and file a case against the Chief Minister. “I demand an investigation into the source of this money,” Khalap said.
Asked for his reaction on the allegations, Parsekar claimed that it is a tradition that he has been following to distribute sarees to ‘well-wisher sisters’ in the constituency. “I have distributed the sarees in my personal capacity. It’s an age-old tradition that I distribute sarees during Diwali,” Parsekar said.
He also stated that the sari packet did not have any party symbol. “I don’t know where this figure of 15,000 sarees has come from. I can’t tell the exact figure as I have given gift to my sisters,” he said.
Responding to the demand of inquiry, the chief minister said he did not distribute the sarees in the dark, hiding from the agencies.
