Goa Trinamul Congress today submitted memorandums to the Goa governor demanding chief minister Pramod Sawant’s resignation and fair probe in the Siddhi Naik case.

A Trinamul delegation including Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy, Babul Supriyo, TMC national VP Luizinho Faleiro, Goa and other Trinamul workers submitted two memorandums to the Goa governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai at the Raj Bhavan today.

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TMC demanded Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant’s resignation and a high-level judicial inquiry against the BJP ruled government concerning allegations of corruption levelled by former Goa governor Satya Pal Malik.

Faleiro reacted, ‘The BJP government must release a white paper on the purchases and expenditure made by the government during the pandemic. These are serious allegations and cannot be taken lightly.’

Former Union minister Babul Supriyo said, ‘Former governor of Goa made specific allegations against companies that benefited out of Covid purchase by the Government. We demand a white paper on the same.’

TMC demanded an independent, fair probe in the Siddhi Naik case where the 19- year-old was found dead on a beach in North Goa. TMC made the following four demands to the governor to instruct the state government to restore law and order, get Siddhi Naik’s case reinvestigated by the CBI, and strict action against police officials who allegedly botched up the probe.

The TMC delegation also strongly condemned the acts of vandalism carried out allegedly by BJP workers who had defaced and destroyed Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee’s posters and hoardings across the state prior to her visit
to the state.

Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy said, ‘It is shameful that this happened on the eve of Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Goa. We must maintain decorum and decency in our conduct. Clearly, the BJP is nervous and rattled, perhaps for the right
reason.’

Meanwhile, the Congress party on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately dismiss Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his cabinet ministers in the wake of serious corruption allegations levelled by former state governor Satya Pal Malik in an interview to a national news channel.

Malik, who is currently the Governor of Meghalaya, had said that there was rampant corruption in Goa, even during the Covid pandemic, especially in the delivery of ration during the lockdown and turning a blind eye to the movement of mining trucks when the entire state was shut down.

“(A total of) 1,77,915 people were infected by the virus and 3,358 people died. Who is responsible for this? It is the responsibility of the state government of Goa. They were hand in glove with the mining mafia. When the entire country was in lockdown, the mining mafia was not in lockdown,” Malik said.

Congress has also demanded a probe into the allegations by a sitting Supreme Court judge.