CM using criminals for opposition character assassination: GFP

Panaji: The practice of coercing criminals to malign the opposition is a new low for the state, said GFP president Vijai Sardesai on Thursday.

Sardesai placed the blame directly on chief minister Pramod Sawant, calling him the mastermind behind the character assassination of opposition MLAs. Sardesai said that Goa police tortured and threatened land grab accused Suleman Siddiqui to incriminate Sardesai and AAP leader Amit Palekar after the cash-for-jobs scam came to light.

Sardesai remarked that while opposition leaders were falsely arrested in the past, this is the first time criminals are being used to attack elected representatives.

He said that GFP will write to the governor and escalate the matter to the Union home minister. “Someone must be held accountable for this disgraceful abuse of power, and that person is Goa’s home minister,” he said.

Sardesai said that Siddiqui’s revelation that his escape and recapture were part of a staged ploy to distract from the cash-for-jobs scam. “This means the entire drama of Suleman’s escape and re-arrest was orchestrated by govt itself,” said Sardesai.

Sardesai said that Sawant fabricated the ‘Fatorda to London scam’ but the assembly data confirms that no such investigation or scam exists. Sardesai also said that he has no links with Siddiqui.

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