PANJIM, DEC 23
While BJP party did not miss an opportunity to criticize the Digambar Kamat-led government about the on-going political tussle over NCP’s demand to re-induct Mickky Pacheco into the Cabinet, it chose to keep “mum” over the demand for Pacheco’s re-induction stating “it is their internal matter.”
The BJP State President Laxmikant Parsekar while addressing a press conference on Thursday afternoon here however did not mince words while criticising Chief Minister Digambar Kamat about his handling of the current political tension and went to the extent of alleging that “it is the making of Kamat” indicating that dissident group led by PWD Minister Churchill Aleamao has Kamat’s backing. He said the government administration has come to a standstill due to political instability.
However, he maintained that “it is an internal matter of the party” when asked to clarify BJP’s stand on the NCP’s demand that Pacheco be made a minister again. Pacheco who was a tourism minister in the Kamat-led government was compelled to put in his paper for he was named as prime suspect in the death of his close friend, Nadia Torrado who died after consuming rat poison on May 30 in Chennai hospital.
Pacheco who has penchant for stoking up controversies, went into hiding immediately after quitting from the government but surrendered after dodging them for over a month.
The BJP then had demanded that Pacheco be dropped from the cabinet but interestingly, today it don’t find anything wrong if a former tourism minister is re-inducted in the cabinet even as court had not yet absolved him of criminal charges slapped against him.
Disclosing BJP’s political expediency as well as hypocrisy, Parsekar also counter-questioned, “Who is clean in the Kamat government? The whole cabinet is knee deep in corruption,” he said.
And sidetracking the main issue, the BJP tried to focus on how lightly the Kamat has taken the whole issue even as five of his ministers supported by few MLA’s have threatened to topple the government if Pacheco is taken back in the government.
“Kamat was seen playing a flute,” Parsekar said while referring to a photo published in one of the local dailies of chief Minister playing a flute. This only shows how serious he is about the whole issue and time has come for them (Kamat-led government) to go home,” He said.
Dull Golden Jubilee celebration: The BJP President also took on the government saying the celebration about golden jubilee of Liberation of Goa has been hardly impressive.
And what did people got for this celebration? “Price rise of various essential items is what people have got as gift for Golden Jubilee celebration,” he said.
White Paper on drugs, drug dealers: Referring to Home Minister Ravi Naik’s statement to some news papers the BJP claimed that the home minister has given clean chit to drug dealers and drug peddlers and demanded the government should come out with a white paper.
The BJP Spokesperson Rajendra Arlekar addressing a press conference here said a police recently seizes cocaine worth Rs 60 lakh cocaine and if the home minister believes that there are no drugs peddlers and drugs here, he should come out with a white paper on Attala, a drug who has been absconding, Israeli Drug dealer who is currently in Sada sub-jail. He was arrested earlier last year for carrying narcotics Arlekar also demanded that White paper should clarify about alleged connections of Home Minister’s son with drug dealers.
