PANAJI
In a sharp rebuke at the Congress, P S Sreedharan Pillai said he was not a judge and claimed the Congress should have submitted a memorandum and not a charge sheet on Friday.
Stating that he had scheduled a visit to an ailing and bedridden writer, Pillai also criticised the Congress for using the Raj Bhavan for political mileage with a drama to present a charge sheet.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, the governor said he had already informed opposition leaders that he would return to the Raj Bhavan by 8 pm as he had gone to meet Sahitya Akademi Award winning writer Shraddha Garad, who is currently bedridden due to paralysis.
“I had made it clear that in my absence my secretary would accept the memorandum from the Congress. I later heard some charge sheet had been submitte. On the basis of a charge sheet, what can the governor do on the eve of the election notification”
“What is a charge sheet under law? Am I a judge? The Congress could have given me a memorandum, while a charge sheet should be kept before the people,” said Pillai.
Pillai said he had received at least 40 memorandums from opposition parties in his 6-month tenure as governor.
Stating that no one from public life had visited Garad so far, the governor said he had announced financial help of Rs 1 lakh for the ailing writer.
"She hails from a poor family and we have given 1 lakh which can be used for her treatment", said the Governor, while appealing to NGOs, leaders and political figures to visit her.
On Friday, plans by Congress leaders and workers to march to the Raj Bhavan to submit a copy of the 21-Point charge sheet to Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai were thwarted on Friday evening, after a strong police force stopped them from proceeding to the Raj Bhavan.
Congress leaders, including former union minister P Chidambaram, Goa incharge Dinesh Rao, youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar GPCC President Girish Chodankar, Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat began their ‘Dhikkar Morcha’ from the Dona Paula junction, but were stopped by a large police force and they were not allowed to enter the Raj Bhavan.
They alleged that the governor had acted in a biased manner and was not present to receive their charge sheet.
