MARGAO
Goa Forward Party chief and Fatorda MLA, Vijai Sardesai, continued taking aim at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the Mhadei issue and shot of a letter to WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar demanding that an urgent meeting of the House Committee he chairs be convened to discuss Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments on the dispute.
Sardesai in his letter asked Shirodkar to take cognisance of the emerging developments following Shah’s statement on Mhadei at the rally in Belagavi in Karnataka and summon Sawant before the committee to give his explanation.
Sardesai in his letter requested Shirodkar to convene a meeting of the House Committee on Mhadei without any loss of time to get to the bottom of what he called as a sordid issue involving the Goa Chief Minister and his party, and also summon the Chief Minister and also summon him before this House Committee.
Drawing attention of the House Committee Chairman, he said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had loudly and unambiguously confirmed this at Saturday’s meeting when he said: “I want to congratulate the leaders and Chief Minister of Karnataka that they have taken along the Goa government on the Mhadei issue to quench the thirst of the farmers of Karnataka. The Chief Minister has done a great job.”
“The Union Home Minister has revealed certain information on Mhadei which has been deeply shocking and extremely disturbing to me personally, and to all Goemkars who revere Mhadei as our mother. You will recall that the news of the Central Water Commission’s approval of Karnataka’s DPR for the Kalasa-Bandura project on Mhadei was received with apprehension and anxiety by all,” he said.
Sardesai said Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s latest revelation has confirmed what Goans knew all along: A foul play by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his government on this matter that has led to the meek surrender of our rights over Mhadei to Karnataka and the loss of the river for Goa forever.
Sardesai added: “This is a serious turn of events. “Taken along” could only mean connivance and complicity. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has placed on record, not only as the Union Home Minister but also as a very senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party that his party’s Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant endorsed, approved and, perhaps even advocated, the diversion of Mhadei waters for Karnataka’s farmers at the cost of Goa’s drinking water needs.”
The Goa Forward chief further pointed out that till now, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has neither disputed Amit Shah’s words nor has issued any statement clarifying his role in what Goans see as a cruel betrayal of Goa and her people. “On the contrary, he has been maintaining all along that he’s fighting the Union government and his party on behalf of Goa, and the DPR approval was an unilateral decision taken without his knowledge,” he said.
