NCP legislators engage in public scrap

PANAJI - Former Goa minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Mickky Pacheco Tuesday accused his state president Jose Phillip D’Souza of assaulting him. D’Souza denied the charges and said his supporters had caught Pacheco bribing voters.

The incident happened in Vasco town, 35 km from here, where campaigning is on for a forthcoming municipal council poll. Vasco is also the home constituency of D’Souza, who is a minister in the state government.

“I was sitting with my friend this evening in a restaurant when D’Souza along with his supporters attacked me and even damaged my friend’s car,” Pacheco said, adding that a councillor close to D’Souza had pelted stones at his car.

D’Souza, however, claimed that Mickky was trying to bribe the former’s supporters to vote against a panel of candidates fielded by him for the forthcoming municipal elections.

He said that his supporters had caught Mickky red handed while distributing bribes to voters close to the NCP president’s panel.

“My supporters were angry. And they questioned Mickky,” D’Souza said.

Pacheco, a controversial legislator and former tourism minister, is already facing several criminal complaints relating to assault, forgery, culpable homicide and money laundering.

D’Souza, who was recently appointed state president, is the also the head of the NCP’s legislative party which comprises of three legislators in the 40-member house.