By IANS,
Panaji : Goa Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane Monday said he was filing a criminal defamation case against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya and leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar for dragging his name into the state’s Rs.25,000 crore mining scam.
Rane, the son of Goa legislative assembly speaker Pratapsing Rane, said he had no business interests in any mining firm, but supported “legal mining”.
“Whether he is a BJP MP or secretary, I do not care. Kirit Somaiya has named me in the mining scam along with Parrikar, I am issuing them notices today,” said Rane.
Somaiya, chairman of BJP’s scam expose committee, had last week accused seven Congress leaders and legislators, including Rane and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, of being the main beneficiaries of the scam.
“I have no links to any mining firm. I am against illegal mining, but I give full support to legal mining in Goa,” Rane said.
BJP has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Goa’s politician-bureaucrat-mining nexus.