Thaindian News

Panaji, Oct 14 (IANS) The heat generated by Goa illegal mining scandal has Congress leaders at middle and lower rungs flushed and agitated.

Members of the newly re-constituted Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) forced chief minister Digambar Kamat on the backfoot on the issue.

Kamat has promised to come back to them at a later date with a power point presentation on the crisis, which is threatening to engulf the Congress-led coalition government here.

Speaking to reporters after the PCC meeting, state Congress president Subhash Shirodkar said that Kamat would be making the presentation within 15 days.

“The chief minister will be making a power point presentation, where he will explain everything about the mining industry to committee members,” Shirodkar said. “He will tell them the facts and figures involved.”

Asked if he believed there was an illegal mining mafia operating in Goa, Shirodkar refused to comment.

The BJP has accused seven Congress leaders and legislators of being the main beneficiaries of the Rs.25,000 crore scam in the last two years. These include Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Subhash Shirodkar, local Congress politician Dinar Tarcar, Home Minister Ravi Naik’s son Roy and Congress MLA Shyam Satardekar.

The BJP has also demanded a CBI probe into Goa’s politician-bureaucrat-mining lobby nexus that the party said was fuelling illegal mining, accounting for a third of Goa’s 54 million tonnes a year iron ore export.