PANJIM: In the strongest ever political attack on Manohar Parrikar, in the heart of what was once his constituency, the AAP founder and Delhi Chief Minister, clearly marked the battleground and the AAP’s principal opponent for the 2017 elections.
Laxmikant Parsekar was not even mentioned in his speech and his government was called a “puppet” in the hands of then State Chief Minister and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during his first ever public meeting in Goa on Sunday, laid scathing attack on the former accusing him of “backstabbing” and “cheating” people of Goa, who granted clear mandate to BJP-led coalition in 2012 Assembly polls.
“The public frustration towards corrupt Congress government, made them to come together to wipe out Congress. And, they did it in 2012 assembly election and gave clear mandate to Manohar Parrikar government. But what did he do? He backstabbed and cheated people of Goa with vague promises,” Kejriwal told the gathering of around 10,000 people, who unanimously admitted to his submission on Parrikar.
“People from all religions came together and gave mandate to Parrikar, all because he had made certain promises,” he said.
“Parrikar went to people assuring that if he came to power, he would act against all those involved in the illegal mining scam after Justice M B Shah Commission exposed Rs 35,000 crore scam. Why are those involved in illegal mining not arrested?
He promised to close the off-shore casinos. Did he do that? Why were offshore casinos not closed. He cheated the people,” said the belligerent Delhi Chief Minister, challenging the BJP government to come out public and name at least five promises in their manifesto that they have fulfilled in last four years of power.
“If I can file an FIR against the then Sheela Dixit government for corruption, then why can’t Manohar Parrikar government send all those Congressman behind bars, who are involved in illegalities?” the Delhi Chief Minister questioned.
“Nothing has changed. When the BJP comes to power they loot, when the Congress comes to power they loot. The BJP has files of the Congress and they do nothing and the Congress has files of the BJP and they do nothing”, Kejriwal said talking on both parties, in a virulent attack.
Carrying on he added, “While I was travelling to Goa today, someone in the flight told me that Parrikar has all the files related to Congress leaders. Then, my question is, why he is silent?” he said.
This received huge applause from the crowd, sending a clear signal that people, are not disgusted with the BJP-government’s move to protect the corrupt Congress leaders.
“He (Parrikar) can even act today. I have been told that he is more interested in State politics and then in the country’s defense. During weekends he is in Goa clearing files. The present government (led by Laxmikant Parsekar) is nothing but a puppet,” he commented.
The government’s recent controversial amendment to the Tree Preservation Act, declassifying coconut as tree, was also highlighted by Kejriwal. Commenting on the clearance given to Vani Agro to build a beer factory in Uguem, a story exposed first by Herald, Kejriwal said that the move to declassify the coconut tree and categorise it as grass, was made just to benefit this company.
Listing out the series of scams during the Congress and the BJP regimes, in succession, Kejriwal mentioned the Louis Berger scam, the mining scam, the land conversion scam and the SEZ scam. Moving to the BJP regime, he listed “the land conversion scam where the RP 2021 was suspended and ad hoc conversions kept happening, the bitumen scam, the beach cleaning scam and the entertainment society of Goa scam”. Whole it isn’t clear which scam of ESG he was referring to, the bitumen scam was exposed only by Herald while the beach cleaning scam was extensively reported by Herald in a series.
The battleground has been mapped by AAP. Going for the jugular, AAP’s line of attack will be focused completely on former Chief Minister Parrikar and his broken promises.
