Team Herald
PANJIM: The Congress party in Goa today said that Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Pramod Sawant has exposed his own party by saying that former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had closed down the mining industry in Goa.
“Finally the cat is out of the bag, good that the BJP MLA himself has accepted that their former chief minister Parrikar closed down mining in Goa, and let me be clear on one thing: it has not regularized but shut down the industry,” said Congress General Secretary Sunil Kawathankar.
He said that it is the first time BJP has openly accepted that they closed down mining operation in Goa or else it was blamed on then Congress government which was ruling at the Center.
Kawathankar said that a prudent decision would have been suspending illegal mining in Goa and not the entire industry which was done by Manohar Parrikar. He said that it only reflects on Parrikar’s wrong governance.
“Pramod Sawant shouldn’t boast of schemes worth crores of rupees. They are not paid from his party funds, but from government treasury and if only illegal mining was stopped then this situation would not have arisen,” Kawathankar mentioned.
He said that as far as recovery of Rs 35,000 crore mining loot as claimed by Parrikar was concerned, BJP leaders should leave politics and go on a pilgrimage as penance for their sin of making false promises of recovering the mining loot.
Instead of sycophancy, the BJP MLAs should pressurize their government to find a solution for resumption of sustainable mining, Kawathankar said.
Pramod Sawant at a press conference Saturday said that suspension of mining activity in Goa by then chief minister Manohar Parrikar was a good decision for regulating mining industry in the State.
