Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat on Monday said that the opposition to the offshore casino vessels would subside once they are shifted away from the public sight.
Fiona Mackeown, mother of slain British teenager Scarlett Eden Keeling, said on Saturday that she would meet Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat and seek clarifications on why the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into her daughter's death was being delayed. Scarlett was allegedly drugged, raped and left to die on Anjuna beach in February. Fiona, who had gone to UK with Scarlett's body on March 30, arrived in Panaji today evening to follow up the investigation.
Back from Delhi, Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat on Tuesday said that "he would continue to be the chief minister till God wants him to be."
Maharashtra-based Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, accused of having a hand in the Margao blast in Goa, on Monday again denied its role in the incident.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said on Sunday that he was yet to receive any proposal from state home ministry on ban on Sanatan Sanstha, a right wing Hindu organisation, under scanner for its alleged role in Margao blast.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, who earned the ire of Congress colleagues for his statement calling Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi his 'best friend', on Saturday said the remark was taken out of context and expressed his commitment to secularism. "My statement has been taken out of context solely to create media and political hype," Kamat, who left the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2005 and joined the Congress, said, seeking to put a lid on the controversy over his remark.
The political crisis faced by the Digambe Kamat-led government in Goa has blown over with the Congress leadership managing to convince the Nationalist Congress Party, protesting alleged irresponsible utterances against it by some Congress MLAs, to vote for the finance bill in the state assembly.
While two ministers, one each from Congress and NCP, have locked horns on developmental issues, influential United Goans Democratic Party legislator Atanasio Monserratte is lobbying hard for a ministerial berth. In addition, Congress legislator Pandurang Madkaikar, who was sacked from the Cabinet, has approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking reinstatement.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday warned its legislators against venting out their anger in public against the party leadership. The GPCC meeting, which was held against the backdrop of a rebellion by five legislators demanding leadership change in the state, was also attended by Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat. Goa Congress leaders who took a dig at rebellious legislators, however, shielded the chief minister and refused to seek an explanation from him.
Five Congress legislators, who have been lobbying against Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, have decided to meet assembly Speaker Pratapsingh Rane to urge him to take charge of the top post, sources close to them said on Wednesday. The legislators are backed by a group of seven legislators including three from the Nationalist Congress Party, two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, one from the United Goans Democratic party and an independent, they said.
In the 40-member Goa assembly, Kamat government enjoys the support of 26 MLAs-- Congress' 18 MLAs NCP's 3, Maharashtra Gomantak Party's 2, United Goa Democratic Party's one and two independents and if the 12 MLAs withdraw support, the Kamat ministry will be reduced to a minority.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has clarified that ban on Sanatan Sanstha would be contemplated only after the National Investigating Agency completes its probe in Margao blast case.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has termed his Gujarat counterpart and firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi as his 'best friend'. During a press briefing, Kamat said Modi was his 'best friend' and added that he will visit Gujarat if the state government invites him. "When I am in Delhi for any conference, I have Sheila Dikshit on one side and Narendra Modi on the other. He is my best friend," Kamat, who was earlier in the BJP, told media persons.
A group of ministers from the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party met at Monseratte's residence on Wednesday night and drafted a memorandum to be submitted to Congress high command seeking a leadership change in the coastal state, sources said.
Speaker Pratapsingh Rane will play a major role in Monday.
A series of close-door meetings are being held at the chief minister's official residence at Altinho in Panaji, where Congress and NCP legislators are working on their strategy, sources said.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel, who announced after day-long consultations among all concerned parties that the four-day old crisis has been resolved, sidestepped questions on whether it involved some changes in the ministry.
Sources close to Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said that the tourism industry, already reeling under severe recession, worked overtime to ensure the state does not implement the ban as it will send wrong signal to the tourists, resulting in more cancellations.
In a bid to dissuade youths from visiting off shore casinos, Goa government on Friday effected a sharp increase in their entry fees besides substantially raising the license processing fee for serving liquor on the floating gambling houses.
"Out of three SEZs only one has done some work. We will give back all the developers only the money which they had invested in buying the land as we are taking the land back from them," State Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said.
In view of popular sentiments, the Goa government had decided to scrap 12 SEZs and sought denotification of three SEZs from the Centre. In view of popular sentiments, the Goa government had decided to scrap 12 SEZs and sought denotification of three SEZs from the Centre. The three SEZs for Meditab Specialities, Peninsula Pharma Research Centre and K Raheja Corporation had started work on the sites before the state government issued them stop-work orders.
An alert has been sounded in Goa and police have intensified checking to track possible terror plots in the tourist hot spot, Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said on Thursday. The move follows the arrest of a suspected militant in Karnataka who had allegedly confessed his plans to strike in Karnataka and Goa. The militant had reportedly said that he could not translate his terror plans into action as he failed to receive a consignment of 50 kg RDX explosive from Pakistan.
In a fresh attempt to find a solution to the Goa crisis, two of the four rebel legislators have agreed to talk to the central leaders of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Pratapsinh Rane-headed Congress government has told the Supreme Court that legality of the decision of the Governor could not be questioned.
Six others, including the then PWD minister Churchill Alemao, were also listed in the charge sheet in the scam in which the US firm has been charged with bribing Indian officials to win two water developmental projects in Goa and Guwahati.
'At the end of the day, there will largely be a single candidate against the NDA's.' 'That itself will produce a different result altogether.'
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