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Scam-tainted Congress looks to repeat win in Goa
Sunday December 25, 2011 07:19:24 PM,
Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar, IANS
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Panaji: Though mired
in various scandals and corruption allegations, Goa's ruling
Congress party is looking to repeat its win against the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) even as social activists have vowed to campaign
against corrupt leaders in the March 3 assembly polls.
Civil society groups, some backed by the influential Catholic
church, which have been vehemently opposing the Digambar Kamat-led
government over issues ranging from illegal mining, real estate
scams, medium of instruction, have vowed to campaign against
tainted legislators.
"The BJP could have done much more to take the government to task,
but they have failed because they are also sharing the loot. This
has forced peoples' groups to stop this loot of Goa. We will
campaign, targetting all the corrupt MLAs (legislators), asking
people not to vote for them," Prakash Bandodkar of the Village
Groups of Goa said.
Kamat's tenure in Goa, which incidentally coincided with the 50
years of the state's liberation from colonial rule has been marked
with scandals involving a big chunk of his dozen cabinet
colleagues, which culminated in Kamat himself being incriminated
in the multi-crore illegal mining scam.
"(Home minister) Ravi Naik's son is linked in the drug mafia nexus
case, PWD Minister Churchill Alemao in the water tank scam,
Education Minister (Atanasio) Monserrate was caught at the Mumbai
airport carrying bags of foreign exchange. With what face can they
go to the people," state BJP president Laxmikant Parsenkar asked,
brandishing endorsing a booklet issued by the party listing scams
of the Kamat government.
State Congress president Subhash Shirodkar said that several of
the allegations of corruption were being probed by respective
authorities, but also added that the Congress would not spare
those guilty of corruption.
"Anyone can make allegations today. They (allegations) are being
probed. If found guilty, those people will be punished," he said,
adding that the procedure for finalisation of candidates for
assembly seats was already on.
"On December 28 we will be screening the first list of aspirants,
which will be sent to Delhi for vetting," Shirodkar said.
The Congress presently has a strength of 20 legislators in the 40
member house, and heads the coalition, which also comprises the
Nationalist Congress party (NCP) (3) and the Maharashtrawadi
Gomantak Party (MGP) (2).
The Congress is keen on repeating the 2007 coalition formula by
teaming up with the NCP and the MGP and negotiations with both
parties are already underway, even as the latter is also flirting
with the BJP.
(Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
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