PANAJI
Speaking at Panaji, All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijaya Singh stated, “The track record of BJP government in last five years has been dismal with many top leaders being involved in crony capitalism in almost every department. One of the reasons why Manohar Parrikar doesn’t want to leave Goa is because Goa is the goose which lays the golden egg for him.”
Congress has leveled charges of corruption and illicit trade against Parrikar, Laxmikant Parsekar, Rajendra Arlekar, Dilip Parulekar, Francis D’Souza, Mahadev Naik, Milind Naik, Kiran Kandolkar, Damodar Naik, Subhash Phaldessai and independent MLA Avertano Furtado.
Singh said, “People named in the list should respond today. If they have guts, they can file defamation charges against me. We are prepared to prove charges at any level if so required.”
AICC secretary Girish Chodankar said, “They have suppressed all the agencies created by Congress to fight corruption. Parrikar and Parsekar have been direct parties to corruption and the cases were suppressed. Parrikar used government machinery to benefit his son and then threatened those who raised the issue on the floor of the House. This is not democratic. If that was the beginning of speedy services, why does the incident continue to be the sole exception to the incident?” Chodankar questioned.
Congress assured to book those who have done wrong.
Meanwhile, speaking about the Congress’ failure to forge an alliance, Singh insisted that the negotiations with certain political parties fell through because the Congress had better candidates in the constituencies which were being eyed by these parties.
“We had candidates in all seats but in the larger interest of defeating the BJP, we left a few seats out. There is no confusion since then and issues within the party have all been resolved,” he asserted.
Lastly, the senior Congressmen listed three issues which the Congress intends to take up on priority-basis upon forming government. These include, rolling back of the amendments to the Tenancy Act, implementation of the regional plan and removal of casinos. Reviewing of decisions of the Investment Promotion Board also features among the prominent items on Congress’ to-do list.
