Thaindian News

Panaji, Aug 31 (IANS) The Congress Thursday compared Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar with ancient master tactician Chanakya, saying that he was “cozying up” to the players in mining and casino industry much against promises he made ahead of the Goa assembly polls.

State Congress spokesperson Reginaldo Lourenco told the media here that Parrikar’s presence at a drama festival, which screened a play based on the 4th century B.C. ruler Chandragupta Maurya’s Machiavellian Indian administrator Chanakya, was “not becoming” as it was funded by players from the casino and mining lobby.

“The CM is known for being the Chanakya of Goan politics and had recently inaugurated a drama festival called Chaturang, where the drama ‘Chanankya’ also featured,” said Lourenco, a legislator from Curtorim constituency.

“It was a very noticeable coincidence that the festival was sponsored by Casino Royal and Vedanata (which owns Goa’s biggest mining company, Sesa Goa), who are the leading players of the casino and mining lobby that controls Parrikar government,” Lourenco added.

Lourenco also said that senior officials of the Parrikar-led administration were openly hobnobbing with mining companies in Goa, singling out the state’s Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni and Director for Mines Prasanna Acharya.

“It is not an accident wherein Nadkarni was shown in the media inaugurating a project by Vedanta along with Mines Director Prasanna Acharya. This prominently highlights the dominance of the mining lobby in the working of the government,” Lourenco alleged.

Lourenco also claimed that Parrikar had turned 180 degrees on his pre-poll promise of driving offshore casinos from the Mandovi river away from Panaji.

“Instead of driving them away, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is accepting them with open arms, even giving them an opportunity to lay the annual licence fees by instalment,” he said while ctiticising the government’s decision to allow the casinos to pay Rs.6.5 crore fee piecemeal.