Congress condemns Parsekar's remarks on offshore casinos

The CM said that he was forced to deal with the issue, which was like taking care of someone else's 'children'

A day after Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar termed offshore casinos a "mess" created by Congress and said he was forced to deal with the issue which was like taking care of someone else's "children", the Opposition party today condemned the remarks and demanded his apology to all women in the state.

"The way Chief Minister has made the statement clearly shows the thinking capacity and RSS preachings to BJP leaders," Goa Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat said in a statement here.

"Chief Minister has insulted and demeaned pregnant women and motherhood by comparing them with casinos," he said.

"This statement of Chief Minister is highly condemnable and he should apologise to all the women of the state," Kamat said.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Parsekar had defended the state government's decision to allow offshore casinos in River Mandovi.

"Someone had said I was forced to marry a pregnant woman, What to do. So, naturally I am forced to take care of her children," Parsekar had said.

The BJP government recently extended the time given to these vessels to move out by another year.

"They (Congress) created this mess and now they are criticising our government. You should recall who was in the power from 1994 to 1999...We were not the part of the government then," he had said, responding to state Congress Chief Luzinho Faleiro's remark that Goa has become "sin city" because of the offshore casinos.