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.
While three UP Police constables involved in the video have been suspended, the VHP members who attacked the young man and woman have not been taken action against just yet.
Thursday's order assumes significance in view of the fact that a possible early judgement in the case could have implications in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the Ayodhya dispute has been a major electoral issue in the last over 30 years.
Abhilash Tomy was left adrift 3,500 kilometres from western Australia with a serious back injury when he was rescued through an internationally coordinated effort
He said during the last 10 years of rule of the SAD-BJP alliance, these civic bodies including the municipal corporations and improvement trusts were transformed into "den of corruption where irregularities and scams were the order of the day".
Hisar-born badminton World No 1 and Olympic medal winner Saina Nehwal appears all set to tie the nuptial knot with Commonwealth Gold Medallist Purupalli Kashyap sometime in December.
A 35-year-old woman claimed on Wednesday that police forced her to sit atop a jeep and paraded her through her village in Punjab’s Amritsar district when they failed to arrest her father-in-law.
