TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The State government on Saturday backed Francisco Mickky Pacheco after media questioned his induction into the BJP led ministry as a tainted legislator. Refusing to comment on the issue, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar says that the decision is based on legal parameters, while Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar says that Mickky has been given a clean chit by the people of Goa.
Pacheco himself said that cases registered against him are allegations and nothing has been proven. Even the conviction done by the local court has been stayed by the Supreme Court, he said.
Pacheco was on Saturday sworn-in as Cabinet Minister in the BJP-led government. He is being allocated Rural Development and Archives and Archaeology portfolios.
Pacheco, a former tourism minister in the Congress government, has been booked and charged for a variety of cases over the last decade and more, ranging from bigamy to extortion, cheating, abetment to suicide and assaulting government servants on more than one occasion.
Media Saturday questioned the government over the induction of the tainted legislator, pointing to Supreme Court’s latest judgment which says that convicted MLA or minister should not to be part of government.
Responding to the same, Parrikar said that on moral principle Supreme Court cannot take the power of the Chief Minister. “For everyone in society there are ups and downs. You have to stick to either moral or legal ground,” he said.
“As far as the party (BJP) is concerned, we do not look into the moral parameters, when it comes to alliance partners, we see the legal parameters,” he added. Parrikar said that he would not like to directly comment on Pacheco’s induction. “It is a cabinet led by Parsekar and I would not like to comment,” he said.
Responding to Pacheco’s induction, Chief Minister Parsekar said that whatever may be the allegations or cases against Mickky, at the end he has been elected by the people of Goa. “That means people don’t see him as guilty,” he added. Hence, it becomes the responsibility of the government to ensure that people’s choice, who has been with the government since long,
gets representation, Parsekar opined.
