Staff Reporter

Panaji

The Congress party on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the Mhadei issue in his upcoming ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme, which is scheduled for Sunday.

Amarnath Panjikar, head of the Goa Congress media cell, said that Prime Minister Modi represents all of Goa’s hope and has to guarantee that Mhadei river will not be diverted.

He slammed BJP leaders for not having the courage to speak the truth about the Mhadei issue, and urged them to encourage the Prime Minister to address the issue in the upcoming ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme.

Panjikar went on to say that in order to determine whether big or small states are more important to the BJP, the Mhadei issue should be clarified by the BJP leaders during the Karnataka election campaign.

He maintained that the BJP leaders ought to address the Mhadei issue during their
election campaign in Karnataka to demonstrate their concern for small states like Goa.

Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks at a public rally in Karnataka’s Belagavi in January, Panjikar stated that the Centre “has resolved the long dispute between Goa and Karnataka over Mhadei and allowed the
diversion of Mhadei to Karnataka to satisfy the thirst of farmers in many districts.”

Recently, Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade had said that BJP leaders have “guts to tell even the media in Karnataka that the Goa government will not compromise on Mhadei river issue.”

On this, Panjikar said, “Forget about speaking in front of the media in Karnataka, the state BJP leaders failed to make a statement in Goa itself.”