PANJIM: Goa Forward Party (GFP) President Vijai Sardesai has demanded that Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) register First Information Report (FIR) against former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and two others in the illegal second renewals granted to 88 iron ore mining leases in the State, which was quashed and set aside by the Supreme Court.
Sardesai also took a potshot at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for his “casual” approach to Lokayukta’s recommendations.
“The ACB should register FIR based on the report of the Lokayukta. On Karnataka Lokayukta’s orders, swift action is taken by the State government, but in Goa, which has the same party in the ruling, it dismisses Lokayukta’s recommendations as ‘not binding on the government,” he said addressing a press conference at party had office in the capital on Saturday.
The ex-deputy chief minister alleged that the government is functioning recklessly without considering Goa’s welfare. “The government thinks it can do anything with 27 ruling MLAs,” he commented regretting his stand to continue his support to the BJP-led government after ex-CM Manohar Parrikar’s death.
Goa Lokayuka P K Misra, in his order this week, recommended that ACB register an FIR against Parsekar, the then mines minister, former Secretary Mines Pawan Kumar Sain and ex-director of Mines Prasanna Acharya for “criminal conspiracy.”
It also recommended to the government that after registering the FIR, the investigation be entrusted to some independent agency like CBI. The Ombudsman has declared that both Sain and Acharya as unfit to hold the office, that are currently held by them.
Reacting to the order, Sawant had stated that it was recommendatory in nature and not binding on the government.
On the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has seen widespread opposition across the country, Sardesai has supported a session in the upcoming Goa Legislative Assembly. “We should have a debate on Citizenship Amendment Act. We will move a motion in this regard, and the government should not have any objection to it because the CM has himself challenged (us) for a debate,” he said.
