the goan I network
PANAJI
The afternoon session of the second day of the Monsoon Assembly Session did not pass without its fair share of drama, with the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant losing his cool when former Minister Rohan Khaunte raised the topic of late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s samadhi at Miramar.
The government had, after the passing away of Parrikar, assured a memorial for the late CM at the Miramar Beach where he was cremated. However, Khaunte was quick to point out that there was no sign yet of this memorial being started.
Khaunte, noticeably hurt at being sacked from the government without warning, chose the point of Parrikar’s memorial to get back at the CM, and the CM fell for the bait, jumping up to counter Khaunte.
Said Khaunte, “It’s been three or four months since Parrikar’s death, yet there’s no sign of even a stone of his memorial being laid. If you really want Parrikar’s memory to live on and still have any respect for him, work on the memorial needs to start immediately.”
“If the government doesn’t have money for the same, I wouldn’t mind taking the initiative to call the people of Goa to...” added Khaunte, who was interrupted by the CM mid-sentence.
“There is no need for this,” said Sawant addressing the Speaker directly. “Tell him that the process for the memorial has started. It takes time,” he said, but then lost his cool and started arguing directly with Khaunte telling Khaunte, “I only stood up because you said you would ask people for money. There’s no need to ask people for money.”
The two went back and forth for a while in a heated discussion, with Power Minister Nilesh Cabral supporting CM saying, “He needs to think about what he’s speaking, we’re all feeling the pain. He needs to be careful what he’s saying.”
Khaunte however did have the last word saying, “All the emotion is good, but I just hope the thoughts translate into doing
something.”
