'Shut mouth', avoid being misquoted: Goa CM to minister

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has advised Forests and Environment minister Alina Saldanha, the only woman member in the Goa cabinet, to "shut your mouth" to avoid being misquoted in media.

Parsekar revealed this at a press conference at the secretariat, when asked about Saldanha.

"In fact, she came with a newspaper one day and said (that), she is being misquoted all over. 'What shall I do,' I said, 'shut your mouth, that's all'," Parsekar told the media.

The minister has been fighting a proxy battle with the chief minister through newspaper comments over proposed coastal marina projects.

Saldanha, who represents the coastal Cortalim constituency, has claimed in media statements issued by her office in the recent past, that the marinas proposed by the BJP-led coalition government, in which she is a cabinet minister, would destroy the livelihood of local fishermen and also destroy the ecology of the Sancoale bay in her constituency.

The second marina being proposed is St. Andre in North Goa.

Parsekar, however, said that Saldanha had never complained to him in person about the marina project and that her only grouse to him was about being misquoted in the media.

When asked if he had been able to convince Saldanha about the marina project, Parsekar said that she had never mentioned her opposition to the project.