Goa CM intimidating Congress leaders: Opposition

Facing the prospect of a police probe after nine cadavers surfaced in a burial ground not far from his residence, Goa Congress president Subhash Shirodkar has accused the BJP government of victimising Congress leaders.

Shirodkar told a press conference Tuesday that the cadavers had been officially sourced for a homeopathy college run by him in Shiroda, 40 km from here, and that mischievous elements had dug them out in an attempt to target him last week.

"If the BJP is making an issue out of these cadavers, it only shows their bankruptcy of ideas. They have been sourced from a government hospital for anatomy studies at my college and were disposed at a burial ground and the site was inspected by pollution control board officials," Shirodkar said, giving out documents to back his case.

The cadavers which surfaced after heavy showers last week, had stirred a controversy with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that Shirodkar would have to face a police probe because the dead bodies were linked to the college run by the Congress leader.

Shirodkar now says that the chief minister had been gunning for Congress leaders for the last 16 months, ever since the BJP came to power.

"He is just trying to intimidate us with these tactics. They work with some people, but not with everyone," Shirodkar said when asked if the intimidatory tactics were paying off.

The party president said that the BJP government had been elected to power on the anti-corruption plank and that if some Congress leaders had done any wrong, they should be punished.

"Just taking names is not enough. Why doesn't he act against those who are corrupt," Shirodkar said, a day after Parrikar named four former Congress minister and then chief minister Digambar Kamat for allegedly indulging in corruption during their tenure in power.