TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday urged State government to take criminal action against all those Congress leaders, who have ruined Goa ‘ethically, ecologically and economically’, in a time bound manner.
Addressing media persons Friday BJP spokesman Dr Wilfred Mesquita said that State economy cannot sustain itself if government stops casinos in the state overnight. He also said that in his personal view “there is nothing wrong in allowing casinos,” or for that matter dance bars.
Objecting to the statements of AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, who during his Goa visit on Thursday claimed that BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was patronizing illegal mining by earlier supporting Reddy brothers and now Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
“By this statement, he is trying to cover up the sins of omission and commission of Congress leaders in Goa, all of who were totally into illegal mining and all other illegal acts,” Mesquita alleged.
The BJP leader said that party demands that all the Congress leaders, who have plundered Goa in illegal mining, administration and other governance, be booked under criminal charges.
“This is not just the demand of BJP but the people of Goa want to see the corrupt Congress leaders being punished and put behind bars,” Mesquita said adding ‘during our recent Ghar Ghar Chalo Abhiyan, people were questioning as to when BJP government will take action against corrupt the Congress leaders’.
When asked as to why government complaint does not name anyone in illegal mining case before Crime Branch, Mesquita said ‘the names already exist in Justice Shah Commission report’. “Now it is for the investigating agency to probe them and punish the guilty,” he said.
On the issue of casinos, Mesquita said that the “Party continues to oppose casino but at this stage, when there is an economic downtrend, if we plan to stop everything in one go, then the State economy will not sustain itself,” Mesquita said while responding to a question on casinos.
The BJP spokesman’s statement came almost a month after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar argument that he will not be able to run the State financially, if casinos are closed down overnight.
“In my personal view, I have nothing against casinos. Casino should be allowed,” Mesquita said, adding that the enforcement directorate and the income tax office should keep a watch on casinos as they involves money laundering issuing.
When asked about his party colleague Michael Lobo’s objection to the dance bars, Mesquita said “when there is no objection to free flow of liquor, why to have objections to other things….Supreme Court, too says there is nothing bad in dance bars”.
