‘Goa MPs have failed mining dependants’

PANAJI: Stating that the three Goan parliamentarians of the Bharatiya Janata Party namely Shripad Naik, Narendra Sawaikar and Vinay Tendulkar have dismally failed to get mining restarted in Goa, senior leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar on Tuesday alleged that during the February 6 mining-related meeting of a Goan delegation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all the talking was done by the Goa Mining People’s Front leader, Puti Gaonkar, while the three Goan Members of Parliament did not utter a word during the meet.

“You can confirm it from Puti Gaonkar,” Dhavalikar added, further informing that he himself was invited for this meeting, but was undergoing some tests at a Hyderabad-based hospital and hence had to express his inability to remain present at the meeting. “If I had attended the particular meeting, I would have briefed the Prime Minister about the need to restart mining operations in Goa, at the earliest,” he noted.

The senior MGP leader also informed that the MGP has not yet withdrawn its letter of support to the government, and continues its support to the “BJP government” in the state, “as on today.”

Speaking further, Dhavalikar said that the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar had discussed the mining issue with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, at times from his bed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in New Delhi, and Gadkari had made much progress on the issue, making the office of the Attorney General of India prepare related papers to be submitted to the Supreme Court.

“However, someone made it sure that the mining issue did not progress any further, and Gadkari was asked to leave the matter halfway,” he revealed.

The senior MGP leader further said that the recent statement of Gadkari as regards teaching defectors a fitting lesson at the election is welcomed by the MGP. “In fact, what Gadkari said has been the motto of BJP, but someone in the Goa unit of the BJP is misleading the central party leaders as regards the incidents of poaching of MLAs, which have recently taken place in Goa,” he added.

Dhavalikar also said that state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar has accepted on camera that BJP is responsible for poaching Manohar ‘Babu’ Ajgaonkar and Deepak Pauskar, the two MGP MLAs. “In a television interview, Tendulkar admitted that he had no time to inform senior BJP leaders namely Laxmikant Parsekar and Rajendra Arlekar about the particular decision of the party, as he was busy in preparing papers for the defection of the two MGP MLAs to BJP,” the MGP leader mentioned.

The senior MGP leader also informed that his wife, who works for Sanatan Saunstha, received a “message of goodwill” from a well-wisher on Monday night, that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) could summon her for investigation soon.