Let people of Goa decide on casino issue: AAP

Panaji: Aam Aadmi Party on Monday said it was for the people of Goa to decide on the fate of the casino industry in the state. “People of Goa have seen the betrayal by BJP government on the issue of casinos, they have seen the current BJP government making a U-turn on every big poll promise,” AAP leader Ashish Khetean said. [caption id=“attachment_2808734” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi CM and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal. AFP[/caption] “We want the people of Goa to decide on casino issue. Let’s see the feedback on the ground,” he said. Goa has four off-shore and more than a dozen on-shore casinos. BJP had promised to shift the off-shore casinos from river Mandovi during its 2012 Goa Assembly campaign, but it is yet to act on the promise after coming to power. AAP has announced that it would contest all the 40 seats in the next Assembly elections in Goa. Khetan also slammed the right-wing Hindu organisation Sanatan Sanstha for allegedly targeting free-thinkers, writers, academics and rationalists. “Sanatan Sanstha is a blot on the face of Goa, it is blot on the face of India. They say they are upholders of Hindu religion but they are the biggest enemy of the religion,” he said and called for its banning and shut down. The masterminds of the murders of the rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CPI leader Govind Pansare and Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi should be arrested forthwith, he demanded. About AAP’s Goa plans, he said the biggest issue was preservation of the identity, culture and heritage of the state. “Another issue is (need) to root out the corruption from the top levels of government and giving development in the hands of community which means giving powers to panchayati raj,” he added. Problems of drugs, casino and prostitution, regional development plan, affordable housing, affordable fish were the other concerns of the people in the state, he said.