PANAJI: The Congress on Sunday said the BJP-led government in Goa was misusing the mining issue to ensure stability of the coalition government and keep mine owners under constant pressure to exploit them.
The Parrikar government recently decided to expedite investigations into illegal mining cases through a State police Special Investigation Team (SIT). The Congress on Sunday called it a pressure tactic to keep “immorally formed minority government going and to keep mine owners under pressure”.
Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who led the government when a large part of illegal mining scams occurred, and some miners are in a legal battle against attempts by the SIT to arrest and investigate them, respectively.
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“While having absolute majority of 21 MLAs, the BJP government never thought of investigating mining allegations. But after the number of MLAs reduced to 13, BJP wants to pursue the matter,” said Mr. Girish Chodankar, AICC Secretary. He said BJP had used the issue in 2012 to win Assembly elections by “misleading people”.