The Congress on Monday termed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah’s meeting with party workers in Goa on Saturday a flop show, saying the BJP had failed to provide concrete assurances to resume mining in the State.
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Goa Congress spokesperson Urfan Mulla said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Panaji that contrary to the BJP’s claims of 30,000 booth workers attending the meeting, only around 10,000 people had turned up. “One of the main reasons for the low turnout was the inability of Mr. Shah and the BJP to resolve the mining issue or at least give concrete assurances on the issue,” he said.
The Supreme Court ordered to stop mining activity in the State in February last year. The Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF), a lose umbrella body of pro-mining groups, has already said that if mining is not restarted before the Lok Sabha polls, it would work against the BJP in the general elections and the bypolls to two Assembly seats.
GMPF president Puti Gaonkar has said mining dependents were not happy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance to a delegation last week to “look into the matter in the framework of the law and SC order”.
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Mr. Shah, while addressing party workers on Saturday, said Mr. Modi was looking to resolve the deadlock.
Meanwhile, State BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar called Mr. Shah’s meeting a resounding success. He said the party's leaders and cadre were going full steam ahead in campaign mode for the elections.