Panaji: Goa Congress has claimed that some of its leaders were detained ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the coastal state on Sunday.
Congress Media Cell Chairman Amarnath Panajikar has claimed that he has been held under house arrest at his sister’s place, while party state president Amit Patkar and other leaders were detained by police ahead of Shah’s meeting in South Goa’s Ponda on Sunday.
Speaking to IANS, Panajikar said that he was being followed by police since morning and was “held under house arrest at his sister’s place in Old Goa”.
“After I went to my sister’s place in Old Goa, I was not allowed to move out. Police have held me under house arrest,” he claimed.
“Mahila Congress President Beena Naik and other Congress leaders are detained by police in Old Goa and Ponda,” Panajikar said.
Couple of days ago, Panajijkar had dared Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade, who had said that the party leaders have guts to tell even the Karnataka media that the state government will not compromise on the Mhadei river issue, to show the ‘guts’ in presence of Home Minister Amit Shah during his meeting on Sunday.
In January, during a rally in Karnataka’s Belagavi, Amit Shah had said: “Today, I am here to tell you that the BJP at the Centre has resolved the long dispute between Goa and Karnataka over Mhadei and allowed the diversion of Mhadei to Karnataka to satisfy the thirst of farmers of many districts.”
“Pramod Sawant and other leaders of the BJP have now got a good opportunity to clarify this issue, when Amit Shah will speak in a public meeting in Goa on April 16. Forget about speaking in front of the media in Karnataka, let the BJP leaders make a statement in Goa, that too in front of Amit Shah that whatever their central leader said was wrong. Show your guts in Goa itself,” Panjikar had said.
“Goa is eager to see your guts on the day when Amit Shah will address a public meeting in Goa, and also when the BJP leaders of Goa will campaign in Karnataka. If they fail to do so, then the people of the state will call them ‘Masters of U-Turn’,” Panajikar had said.
Former AICC secretary Girish Chodankar told IANS that they are protesting in Ponda, a few kilometers away from the venue of Amit Shah’s meeting, demanding that Shah should clarify on Mhadei issue. “Our many leaders are detained by police,” he said.
(IANS)
