By IANS,
Panaji : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Goa unit chief Wilfred de Souza Saturday launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Digambar Kamat of the Congress party, alleging that Kamat could not “stick to his word for even a day”. NCP is part of the state’s ruling coalition, led by the Congress.
“What governance do you see? They cannot even solve the garbage disposal issue, which is the basic duty of a government,” de Souza told reporters at his residence.
“He cannot stick to his word even for a day. This is a chief minister who goes back on his word in less than a day.”
The NCP, with two ministers in the cabinet, is a partner in the present coalition government along with the Congress, regional outfit Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and an independent legislator. De Souza is deputy chairman of the state planning board.
He demanded an investigation into the health ministry’s decision to appoint Emergency Medical Response Initiative (EMRI), a organisation associated with the scam-tainted Satyam computers, for setting up a medical emergency response system in Goa.
“I want a full fledged probe into how the state health ministry approved the 108 emergency response scheme because EMRI is owned by Satyam. We all know what the latter is about now,” he said, demanding an investigation into the deal.
The NCP chief also slammed his party colleague and tourism minister Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco, saying that his public spat with his legally married wife Sara Pacheco was affecting the party’s image.
Sara has accused Mickky of bigamy and has filed several forgery complaints against him.
“Mickky’s personal life is reflecting on the party. Anything which involves scandal affects the party,” de Souza said.
The NCP state chief, whose relations with the party’s high command have been strained of late, also lambasted the NCP’s central leadership for being “unable to restrain” Mickky.
“A stand has to be taken by the party high command. They have not taken any stand yet, so I assume the party has no stand on this Mickky issue,” he said.