PANAJI
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State leadership, which was initially resolute on slugging it out with the Opposition Congress over the sex scandal eventually switched mode on Wednesday and asked Milind Naik to resign from the cabinet to spare the party any embarassment on the eve of an official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Modi will be on a day-long visit on Sunday (December 19) on the occasion of the State's 60th anniversary of its Liberation from Portuguese rule.
For over a fortnight since Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president, Girish Chodankar, first made the allegation of an unidentified minister being involved, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP State president, Sadanand Tanavade played it cool and pushed the onus on the accuser to proffer concrete evidence.
Sawant had also sought to wash his hands off taking any action saying he has conveyed the matter to the party's Central leadership and it is for them to take action.
Within the State leadership however, the BJP's general secretary (Organisation), Satish Dhond, regarded a potent power center, was among those who propelled the strategy to slug it out and not give in to the Congress offensive.
Top BJP sources said, Dhond drummed up support for Naik to continue in the Cabinet, arguing that his quitting or being sacked would give the Opposition crucial leverage ahead of the upcoming elections.
But on Wednesday, push came to shove, first for Chodankar and his colleague Sankalp Amonkar, who pushed to the corner with the FIR booked against the latter and others based on the Bihar 'victim' woman's 'zero FIR' transferred to Mormugao police station, spilled the beans.
First Chodankar revealed Milind Naik was the minister involved and later Amonkar spilled the beans filing a complaint against him in the Women's police station and attaching 'evidence' including Whatsapp chats, audio and audio-visual clips.
This turned the tables and triggered panic in the ruling BJP camp eventually culminating with Naik putting in his papers.
Sawant, in a seemingly face-saving move, has said that the government will "100 per cent investigate all evidence submitted by the Congress party" linked to the sex scandal allegedly involving Naik.
He also claimed that Naik had resigned of his own volition to ensure a free and fair probe and that he (Naik) would fight the 'personal allegations' levelled by the Congress party on his own.
"He (Naik) has said that he will fight the personal allegations levelled against him," Sawant said.
