PANAJI
BJP state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Thursday double-dared his Congress counterpart Girish Chodankar to identify by December 6 the yet unnamed cabinet minister allegedly involved in the sex scandal as alleged by the latter.
Tanavade also said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is capable of cracking down and acting against his own minister if proof of sexual harassment is provided to the government by Chodankar or a formal complaint is filed by the victim in the case.
"I dare you (Girish) to declare the name in 24 hours. By December 5... say before December 6, he should name the person and the victim should file a complaint. He knows that until the person files a complaint, he cannot name the (accused). Or he will be in trouble," Tanavade said.
"He should have proof or guts to name the person. Only then you (Girish) talk. After that (naming the minister and filing of the complaint) if you ask why the CM has not taken action, I will respond to it at that point of time," Tanavade said.
In an explosive press conference earlier this week, Chodankar had claimed that a cabinet minister in the BJP-led coalition government had sexually exploited a woman and further said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was using the Goa Police to destroy evidence connected to the case. Chodankar had claimed that he had seen the video, audio and Whatsapp messages in which the state Congress president suggested sexual exploitation of a woman by the Minister.
Tanavade has claimed that in absence of the names of the Minister or the victim, the accusations made by Chodankar was akin to firing blanks in the air.
"The person who has made the allegation should name the person. There should be no scope for a question mark. The person who is the victim should also come forward and say I have suffered this. Both these elements are missing in this case. There are 12 Ministers and there is a possibility of a sense of doubt developing," Tanavade said.
Tanavade also said that the BJP's core committee which met on Wednesday had discussed the sex scandal issue, but unanimously resolved that until the name of the victim or the accused Minister surfaces, there was nothing much one could do about it.
"Everyone said that until someone is named, how can one hold anyone responsible? Let the (Minister's) name surface, let the name of the victim surface, we can see then," Tanavade said.
