PANJIM: After facing criticism over the alleged beach cleaning scam on the first day of the Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar slammed the opposition for making deliberate attempts to generate a negative air around the government in view of next Assembly elections.
He dared them to file a complaint against the government if any discrepancies were found during the implementation of beach cleaning exercise. “It is a cent per cent deliberate attempt to create hype against the government, its ministers and departments only because we have been claiming that our cabinet is free of scams,” he said on Monday evening.
Condemning the opposition legislators’ move forcing two adjournments during the day’s proceedings, the CM sarcastically commented that the former need to make their presence felt it being an election year
“This is election year so I understand that they need to make their presence felt,” he said adding, “Rushing to the well of the House and staging a walkout during Question Hour is not done. When we were in opposition, we always allowed the concerned minister to complete his reply before taking any such steps on any controversial issue.”
During the session Parsekar had replied to tourism-related queries originally meant for Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar owing to the latter’s absence from the Assembly post surgery. Referring to the incident in the House, the CM accused Independent MLA Vijai Sardesai of prompting the members to disturb the proceedings.
“I was replying to a starred question raised by Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte but (Congress MLA) Digambar Kamat and later Sardesai began shooting supplementary questions without allowing me to reply. Sardesai was winking at other MLAs to disturb the proceedings of the House,” he elaborated.
The CM also rued that despite submitting all the files and notings on the beach cleaning contract to the concerned, the opposition attempted to portray the government in bad light. “File a case if any discrepancies are found. The entire file and notings are with you (opposition). Read them thoroughly before making a noise,” he said.
