PANAJI
The Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly began on Friday but rather than inside, there were verbal fireworks outside the august House.
Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar let the sparks fly when he accused Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude of graft in matters dealing with disbursal of grants under his department.
He told the media that Gaude was involved in misappropriation of funds and demanded an inquiry.
Earlier on Thursday, some members of village panchayats in Canacona, which is represented by Tawadkar, had alleged that several organisations had fraudulently obtained funds to the tune of Rs 26.85 lakh from the Art & Culture department for cultural programs which never took place.
While Gaude had said he would inquire into the matter, Tawadkar said, the minister was in the know of the scam even as he demanded an inquiry against Gaude and the department.
Soon after Tawadkar made the allegations, Gaude said he is open to any inquiry into the issue of utilisation of funds of the Art and Culture Department.
"Bringing politics into Art & Culture is not correct," Gaude said, adding that organisations availing grants have to submit 'utilisation certificates' for every expenditure and there is no possibility of fraud.
Interestingly, both Tawadkar and Gaude are tribal leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Friday's confrontation between the two comes as an embarrassment for both the Pramod Sawant government and the ruling party.
