Goa Congress challenges BJP over mining scam allegations
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Aug, 2021 11:58 AM
Panaji, Aug 25 (IANS) If Congress leaders were really involved in the Goa mining scam, the BJP would have nailed them by using central enforcement agencies at their disposal, AICC Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Wednesday.
Rao also slammed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for raking up 10-year-old allegations related to the mining scam in an attempt to put Congress leaders in the dock in pollbound Goa.
"After 10 years still they are making the same allegations, what happened to your IT (Income Tax), ED (Enforcement Directorate) CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), all those things? If anything wrong has happened, they should prove that wrong has been committed. Catch the culprits," Rao told reporters in Panaji.
"The CM simply makes allegations. You are not meant to make allegations, you are meant to investigate. You have the authority, you have the central government. Why is Mr Sawant simply making these statements?" Rao also said, claiming that Sawant's raking up of the mining scam allegation was only meant to divert the attention of the people of Goa ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.
Mining activity in Goa was banned by the apex court first in 2012, following the unearthing of a Rs 35,000 crore scam by a judicial commission appointed by the central government.
The Commission headed by Justice MB Shah had accused then Congress Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, top officials of the Goa government as well as mining magnates in the state of being allegedly involved in the scam. Kamat has however claimed innocence in the matter.
The findings of the Commission are being probed by the Special Investigation Team of the Goa Police for nearly a decade now.
As Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday proposed to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Twitter got flooded with messages related to the issue with many hailing #OneCountryOneSystem.
Following is the broad framework of how the state of Jammu and Kashmir will cease to exist after Centre's decision to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir:
Schedule Castes Valmikis from Punjab, West Pakistan refugees, Gorkhas and women living in Jammu and Kashmir for the past six decades were suffering as they were not treated as residents of the state
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's actual countdown for revoking Article 370 and bifurcation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir began during the third week of June, when he chose 1987 batch IAS officer of Chattisgarh cadre, B.V.R. Subramanyam as new Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir.
Making a historic announcement in the Rajya Sabha that triggered bedlam, Shah said: "I am presenting the resolution to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir except the first clause 370 (1)."
