PANJIM: Just days after the Congress party demanded an
opinion poll on whether the State should continue to have casinos, the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed the move as a ‘joke’ claiming that the
former had conceptualized the casino culture in Goa.
“The recent statement of the Congress President asking for
an opinion poll on casinos is a big joke. If they (Congress) remember, it was
they who brought the casinos. We feel, that Congress should have taken an
opinion poll before brining this concept in the State,” BJP MLA Siddharat
Kuncolienkar told media persons in presence of party president Vinay Tendulkar.
“The Congress party is not at all serious. Their series of
statements and moves looks like jokes. They are not able to handle their own
MLAs like Pandurang Madkaikar and Babu Kavalekar, who themselves are publicly
criticizing their party,” Kuncolienkar added.
Earlier this week, the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC)
had resolved that casinos be moved out of the State and demanded an opinion
poll on whether State should continue to have it. GPCC President Luizinho
Faleiro had blamed successive State government’s including those of his own
party for directly or indirectly turning the State into the ‘sin city of India’
by encouraging casino culture, drugs and prostitution.
Responding to a question on the party’s failure to fulfill
its 2012 election promise like shifting of casinos out of River Mandovi,
Tendulkar said, “We have fulfilled 90 percent of the promises made in our
election manifesto. The remaining 10 percent will be taken care after coming to
power in 2017 polls.”
