PANJIM: As Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said he and his wife would file a defamation suit against the Aam Admi Party reacted by saying it is an attempt to silence the opposition.
On Chief Minister’s arrival from Delhi, Pramod Sawant told reporters that he would file a defamation suit against AAP for making allegations against him in the job scam. They not only defamed me but they have also attacked my wife who is not a politician and has nothing to do with the job scam.
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AAP national leader Sanjay Singh had quoted former Goa Governor Satyapal Malik who he said had alleged that Chief Minister’s wife was taking money in return for Government jobs. The allegations were made in Delhi in the presence of Goa AAP leaders.
Addressing a press conference, Working President of AAP in Goa Valmiki Naik welcomed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant threat to file a defamation suit against the party leaders, labeling it as yet another a desperate attempt to silence the opposition.
Valmiki Naik, along with General Secretary (Campaign and Communication) Francis Coelho, and Youth Wing leaders Rohan Naik and Salman Khan, highlighted CM Sawant’s fear of being exposed and his continuous attempts to deflect attention from the job scam deeply rooted in the BJP.
AAP Working President Valmiki Naik stated, “The Chief Minister is scared because the job scam investigation goes deep within the BJP party and involves close associates of the CM. His defamation threat is a tactic to suppress voices demanding justice.” Naik questioned the grounds for the defamation case, pointing out that AAP’s statements merely echoed former Goa Governor Satyapal Malik, who accused the Goa government of corruption. “If Malik’s statements were not defamatory, why is CM Sawant targeting AAP?” he asked.
Naik emphasised that this isn’t the first time the CM has tried to suppress the issue of the job scam. He pointed out that a pattern of inaction and deflection has been evident since the scandal first came to light. He explained how the scam came to public attention with the arrest of Puja Naik. Notably, it later emerged that she had been at the CM’s residence just a week before the arrest, yet no immediate action was taken by the CM. It was only after a victim filed a complaint that the police arrested her. Naik mocked the CM’s claim that he directed the arrest, questioning why he waited a week before doing so.
Francis Coelho criticised the CM for wasting time on a defamation suit instead of addressing Goa’s unemployment crisis. “AAP has faced CBI, ED, and countless intimidations before.”
