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Goa Oppn demands CM Sawant’s resignation, inquiry into Satya Pal Malik’s charges
Goa’s opposition parties held separate protests to demand chief minister Pramod Sawant steps down in wake of Meghalaya governor Satya Pal Malik’s statement against his regime. Malik was earlier governor of Goa but was moved to the northeastern state within a year.
PANAJI: Opposition parties in Goa on Tuesday escalated the attacks on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over former Goa governor Satya Pal Malik’s comments about corruption in the Pramod Sawant government.
On Tuesday, a delegation of the Trinamool Congress and the Goa Forward Party led separate delegations to Goa governor PS Pillai urging him to dismiss Sawant in the wake of his predecessor’s allegations against him.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) held separate protests at the Azad maidan to demand the removal of the chief minister, who they said, has no right to continue in office.
“The continuation of Pramod Sawant as the chief minister of Goa has become absolutely untenable, and the continued existence of his government, an impropriety and a mockery of all democratic, ethical and moral principles,” Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai said.
“We see this as a befitting case to approach the high court for registering an FIR against the government, with a charge sheet to be filed within 90 days of FIR. Moving expeditiously in such matters of corruption will ensure that the people retain their faith in the Constitution of India,” he said.
Sardesai has also demanded that the central government order an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge.
Similarly, the Trinamool Congress delegation including Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy, former union minister Babul Supriyo, TMC vice-president Luizinho Faleiro too called on the Governor to demand Sawant’s removal from office.
“The BJP government must release a white paper on the purchases and expenditure made by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic. These are serious allegations and cannot be taken lightly,” Faleiro said. The party also submitted a memorandum to the Governor.
The Congress’ Gaurav Vallabh, who is in the state, demanded that a high-level inquiry be conducted to probe the allegations.
“We demand that the Prime Minister immediately dismiss the CM and entire council of ministers of Goa government who are directly/indirectly involved in such massive corruption and that too in the middle of Pandemic?” Vallabh said.
The Congress also demanded the setting up of a “time-bound investigation under the supervision of a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court to find out what all other areas of Governance Goa Government are involved in corrupt practices.”
“The PM should come out and answer why no action was initiated against the Goa CM when the governor informed him about the rampant corruption by the Goa government?” he said.
Members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were arrested after they attempted to march towards the chief minister’s official residence to register their protest.
In an interview with India Today TV broadcast on Monday, Satya PalMalik who spent a little under a year as Goa governor between October 2019 and August 2020 before being shunted out to Meghalaya, pulled up Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for his handling of the lockdown, that happened when Malik was the Governor as well as Sawant’s “unnecessary” plans to build a new Raj Bhavan in Goa.
“I am a Lohia-ite. I get very angry when it comes to corruption. I do not take it kindly. On the day when the lockdown was announced, the government said that even the stores selling basic essentials would not be allowed to open but said they would sell door to door. Which was impossible, but they allowed one company to sell basic essentials door to door which had given money to the Goa Government, when people from Congress told me about it, I informed PM Modi ji ,” Malik said.
“There was corruption in the Goa government in handling everything… because of that I was sent away from there,” he also said.
Malik who was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir prior to the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcating the state into two union territories was posted to Goa in November 2019. His run-ins with chief minister Pramod Sawant, however, were followed by his transfer to Meghalaya.
The ruling BJP accused the Meghalaya governor of crossing the line in violation of “ethics and propriety”. Goa BJP spokesperson Damodar “Damu” Naik said Malik should step down from his constitutional post if he wants to criticise “his own government”.
“It is completely wrong for the governor to speak this way. There is ethics and propriety. He should behave within the limits of ethics and propriety. Did he act on it (corruption charge) when he was the governor? To speak about it now and to speak to the media while still being a governor is completely wrong and unconstitutional. He should have sent a report to the Union home ministry back then and then the senior leaders would have taken it forward,” Naik said.
