Goa Congress claims attack on party workers in Panaji was 'government-sponsored', accuses police of backing BJP

Panaji: The Congress on Saturday alleged that the attack on the party workers in Panaji on Friday was “pre-planned” and “government sponsored”. The workers of the BJP and the Congress had clashed occurred outside the Goa Congress headquarters Friday evening during a rally on the Rafale issue. [caption id=“attachment_4907401” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Girish Chodankar, Twitter/@girishgoa[/caption] “The physical attack on our leaders was pre-planned one, as officials attached to the Chief Minister’s Office, Speaker’s Office and two cabinet ministers were in the mob”, alleged Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar. The Congress party Saturday held a joint meeting of GPCC and Congress Legislative Wing in Panaji to take stock of the situation after the attack. “It was a government-sponsored attack which saw participation of two Ministers — Vishwajit Rane and Mauvin Godinho”, alleged Chodankar. He said that the officer on special duty for the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly as well as the chief minister’s public relations officer were amongst others who participated in the clash. Accusing police of siding with the BJP workers, Chodankar said the police officers who were present at the spot gave a free hand to the saffron party activists to assault Congress workers. “The police did nothing to clear the mob even as the commuters were put to hardship with traffic block for nearly two hours”, he said. The BJP on Friday said the clash was instigated by Congress. Rane and Godinho were not available for comments.