Will ask him to step down from the chair till he is cleared of charges
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: A day after Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) gave a clean chit to Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar in the disproportionate assets case, Congress party on Saturday said they would ask him to step down from the chair till he was cleared of the charges.
The party also alleged there was political pressure into the inquiry ahead of the Assembly session on Monday.
“The party will raise the issue during the budget session of the State Legislative Assembly… Neutrality of the Speaker should not be in question and as such we will request him to step aside till charges against him are cleared,” Congress Legislature Party (CLP) spokesman Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco told a press conference on Saturday.
He said the party will demand a reply from the government over the ACB report submitted to Special Court designated under Prevention of Corruption Act on Friday that mentions it does not find any substance into the complaint lodged by a lawyer-activist against Arlekar. The court will hear the case on March 6. “The CLP will meet to decide further strategies on the issue,” the Curtorim MLA added.
The five-day long budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly is scheduled to begin on Monday wherein Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will present the budget on March 5.
In a separate press briefing held earlier in the day, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Chief John Fernandes also questioned the manner in which ACB carried out the inquiry.
“We were well aware that government will certainly come to the rescue of the Speaker and give him a clean chit ahead of the session… It is misuse of government machinery. I think the judiciary should take its own course without pressure from the executive,” he commented
ACB’s preliminary inquiry was based on allegations that a 500 sq mt plot at Porvorim was disproportionately bought by Arlekar for Rs 72 lakh. The complainant had quoted the sale deed that revealed it was purchased from a Delhi-based journalist but did not mention the mode of payment.
The Speaker in a subsequent press conference had rubbished allegations claiming the payment was through a proper source to buy the plot and asserted required documents countering the allegations were submitted to the ACB during the inquiry.
