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.
Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the CWC has passed two resolutions recalling the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi to the "Indian thought process, its soul and body".
Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, who was listening to the speech delivered in Tamil, appeared to indicate that the MLA was going beyond the time limit. He was then handed a slip by an officer asking him to stop.
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi will be the chief guest at the RSS' Vijayadashmi function in Nagpur on October 18, a top Sangh functionary said on Tuesday.
The man changed his religion along with 12 of his family members and submitted an affidavit to the area sub-divisional magistrate testifying that the change of religion was voluntary.
The Cyber Cell of the Punjab Police has registered cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act after a morphed video of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh went viral on social media.
