PANJIM: The Congress party has taken a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for distancing himself from inaugurating the cable-stayed Mandovi Bridge on Sunday despite his party making tall claims that he would throw open the bridge.
Party’s chief spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar has linked this to the unresolved crisis in the mining industry. “The PM is scared and stepped back on inaugurating the third Mandovi Bridge because BJP’s many promises to bail the mining dependents out of the ongoing crisis have failed. They are exposed on not resolving the issue and BJP MP Shripad Naik has also openly admitted that he was not being given appointment by PM” he said while briefing the press on the upcoming inauguration of the bridge.
Over the last 10 months, mining dependents have been making several attempts to seek PM’s appointment or his intervention resolve the mining crisis that has affected livelihood of at least 3 lakh people. The Opposition has backed the affected group demanding the PM bring out a solution at the earliest. The three MPs from Goa – Shripad Naik, Narendra Sawaikar and Vinay Tendulkar, on the other hand, have assured that PM is aware of the issue and a legal way will solve the problem.
Reacting to explosive outburst of some ministers during the cabinet meeting on Thursday, Kawthankar has termed it ‘very shameful’ while pointing at how ministers have no respect for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was chairing the cabinet.
“There has to be respect to seniority and the chair each one holds in the government. Fights have happened in the past but the extent of abuses and casteist remarks spoken at this cabinet meeting is condemnable. The outburst in the presence of CM is very shameful. Things are going out of hand,” he said indicating all is not well in the coalition government.
Replying to a question on whether CM has lost control over his ministers, Kawthankar said he does not deserve stress at this stage of his life. “We are always very sympathetic towards the health of the CM. He should not be exposed to such stress,” he said adding, “BJP has lost their credibility and proved beyond doubt that governance has failed. It is for the people to now decide whether the ministers have become intolerant or frustrated.” The party also commented that from next cabinet meetings, the government should deploy bouncers to ensure ministers are safe from possible physical attacks.
