Congress ministers have Rs 22cr in Swiss banks

Cashing in on the pro-Anna Hazare sentiments, BJP held a protest in Panaji where its leaders said that if their government comes to power in Goa, they will introduce the Lokayukta Bill within three months.

The leaders also alleged that a former Congress chief minister of Goa and certain Congress ministers have together stashed loot worth.`22,000 crore in Swiss banks. The charge and the assurance came at a BJP meeting at Azad Maidan, Panaji, to protest the arrest of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and to extend support to his version of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

While BJP state president Laximikant Parsekar leveled the charge of Rs 22,000 crore being stashed in Swiss banks, opposition leader Manohar Parrikar assured that if the BJP came to power in Goa, it would implement the Lokayukta Bill within three months. Claiming credit for introducing the Lokayukta Bill in Goa in 2003, Parrikar accused chief minister Digambar Kamat of suppressing it for the last fourand-half years because he was scared it would expose the corruption in his government.

Alleging that Goa's illegal mining is much greater than Karnataka's as detailed in the Karnataka Lokayukta report, Parrikar said most of the state's illegal mining would have been curbed had there been a Lokayukta in Goa. Parrikar actually named Digambar Kamat, health minister Vishwajeet Rane and PWD minister Churchill Alemao saying they are "immersed in corruption". Parsekar reminded how recently Congress education minister Atanasio Monserrate was caught redhanded smuggling foreign currency out of India.

Though most of the speeches were made by BJP functionaries, Parrikar also invited advocate Satish Sonak of India Against Corruption and Porvorim-resident Juino De Souza to speak. While Sonak urged all political parties to learn from the BJP in staging dharnas against corruption, De Souza urged citizens not to sell their votes during elections.

 

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