The Goa Forward Party (GFP) on Monday alleged that its party legislator and State Fisheries Minister Vinod Palienkar was being implicated in a sex scandal for taking on the powerful drug mafia and launching a campaign against drug trade in the State.
Activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues has claimed to have in his possession a video showing the Minister in a compromising position with a woman from his Assembly constituency of Siolim in north coastal Goa.
Mr. Rodrigues has demanded that the Minister be sacked and has threatened to hand over a copy of the purported sex video to Governor Dr. Mridula Sinha.
Mr. Rodrigues said, “An appointment has been sought with the Goa Governor to place before her complete details of the sex scandal involving Fisheries Minister Vinod Palienkar.”
However, Trajano D’Mello, chief spokesperson of the GFP, has questioned the authenticity of the video. He said that Mr. Palienkar’s efforts to “weed out the flourishing drug trade in coastal Goa had earned him the ire of the drug lobby”.
Mr. D’Mello said, “My party president has already made a statement saying that the activist could be making the allegations on behalf of someone in the drug mafia. Mr. Palienkar has ruffled feathers of many people involved in drug trafficking in the State.”
Vijai Sardesai, GFP president and Town and Country Planning Minister in the Goa government, said the claims made by Mr. Rodrigues were “defamatory in nature” and that the activist had “no locus standi” in the matter. Mr. Sardesai said, “He has been consistently making allegations and targeting only one Minister.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Palienkar told The Hindu on Monday that he “had no clue what the activist lawyer was talking about”.
Mr. Palienkar said, “If he is saying there is a CD, ask him only what it is all about. What will I say? He has neither called me nor spoken to me in this regard. It is a public campaign. I too firmly believe that this is happening because of my uncompromising stand and actions against the drug mafia in Goa.”