With the Congress central leadership seeking to distance itself from the developments in Goa, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat today landed in the Capital to apprise the Centre of his version of the story. Accompanied by MP Shantaram Naik, Kamat met Home Minister Shivraj Patil. Kamat has also sought an appointment with President Pratibha Patil. He will meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi after her return from Rae Bareli on Wednesday. While the Chief Minister blamed the threat to his Government on “land sharks” who did not favour his decision to scrap the controversial 2011 Regional Plan, the party leadership at the Centre is more anxious about its “image” in the wake of what the opposition BJP has described as the “murder of democracy”. Briefed by the legal brains in the party that the way the Kamat Government proved its majority yesterday would be “untenable” in a court of law, the Congress High Command has decided to keep a distance from the developments in Goa.The party’s central leadership is of the view that the Speaker’s decision to restrain two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) from voting cannot stand judicial scrutiny. Naik, who accompanied Kamat to the Congress headquarters here for an interaction with the media, justified the Speaker’s action arguing that as a quasi-judicial authority the Speaker has “all the rights to pass an ad interim order” restraining MGP MLAs from voting. Kamat said that the Speaker had acted according to rules and provisions. Both Kamat and Naik attributed the crisis to “land mafia”. The Chief Minister said that 300 lakh sq m of land, including forest areas, had been usurped for residential and commercial purposes by “land sharks” from even other countries like Israel and Russia. “Since we scrapped the Regional Plan, the conversion of the land became null and void,” explained Kamat. He denied that it was the previous Congress regime that had brought the Regional Plan. It was the brainchild of the Manohar Parrikar Government, according to him. “We had modified it. When people came out on roads against the plan, we decided to scrap it,” said Kamat. “What they (the Opposition) had done was the murder of democracy. If we had not scrapped the Regional Plan, what would have happened?” said the CM. Asked if he would consider resigning in the wake of this controversy, Kamat said, “For what? For following democratic norms and rules!” The Opposition team under the leadership of Parrikar is also on way to New Delhi to meet their leaders as well as the President of India.Save Front Goa chief Churchill Alemao, along with collegue Alex Regenaldo Lawerence, and Atanasio Monserrate of the UGDP have announced that they will be staying with the BJP.
