The Congress has asked ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to respond to his Cabinet colleague Nilesh Cabral's statement that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on illegal mining was a "political stunt".
In 2012, Parrikar who was then the Leader of Opposition, chaired the PAC constituted by the Goa Assembly on mining. A report submitted by the PAC had pointed out irregularities in the mining industry, after which the Supreme Court appointed M B Shah Commission to conduct inquiry.
The report had also named the then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat as one of the accused in illegal mining that took place between 2005 and 2012.
Talking to reporters in Goa on Wednesday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary A Chellakuar asked Parrikar to come clean on the findings of the report.
Cabral, who is a BJP MLA and state Power Minister, had recently said during a TV debate that the PAC report tabled by Parrikar was a "political stunt". However, he had later claimed that he meant to say "stand" and not "stunt".
Chellakumar said, "On behalf of the Congress party, we request the CM, who is the propagator of Rs 35,000 crore figure of illegal mining, to respond to the statement of your own Minister (Cabral). If you were right, then give a reply."
He said the Congress is "very clean" and "not scared" of the allegations of illegal mining levelled against it.
The Congress leader claimed that Parrikar, during his stint as the LoP, had tried to create a "mirage" before the people and branded the Congress as a corrupt party.
With his own agenda, Parrikar succeeded in winning over power during the 2012 Assembly election, he added.
"But the fact is that today his own Cabinet Minister openly said that it was a political stunt. The mining scam was totally a political stunt," Chellakumar said.
He said that the findings of the Shah Commission, which had pegged the illegal mining in Goa to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore, were based on the PAC report. The Congress leader also alleged that BJP had misled the people and the country for their "short-term political gains".
