PANJIM: Congress party is contemplating moving a Privilege Motion against Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for allegedly misleading the State Legislative Assembly on the public accounts committee (PAC) report that exposed Rs 3500cr crore illegal mining in Goa.
The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) will meet in the coming days to decide on moving a Privilege Motion against Parrikar.
The move comes following Power Minister and BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral stating in a media interview that the PAC report, submitted by Parrikar in 2011, indicting former Congress CM Digambar Kamat, was a “political stunt”.
Addressing media persons on Monday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and Goa desk in-charge Dr A Chellakumar said it is clear that to grab power in the 2012 Assembly elections, Parrikar used the PAC report to mislead the people of Goa and also the State Legislative Assembly.
“PAC report was nothing but a political stunt. And this truth has come out of the horses’ mouth. Nilesh Cabral has categorically said that PAC report on illegal mining was a political stunt by BJP. He even said that Kamat should have clarified it at that time itself,” Chellakumar said. “This means, you misled the House,” he said, adding that CLP will meet and decide on moving a Privilege Motion against Parrikar.
The AICC leader said Congress has been right all along when it declined to accept the PAC report and had agreed to face investigation.
Opposition leader Chandrakant Kavlekar thanked Cabral for admitting that the PAC report was a political stunt. “Now it is clear that BJP had manipulated everything to gain power in 2012. They used the mining issue to target Congress leaders and fetch power,” he said.