Digambar Kamat’s temple visits irk BJP

PANAJI - Goa’s Congress chief minister’s repeated visits to temples in the state have now irked the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

The main opposition party in Goa Thursday severely castigated Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for ‘wasting’ his time, visiting Delhi and temples repeatedly rather than solving the woes confronting Goa.

The chief minister is only visiting Delhi and temples, while there is chaos and corruption in Goa, even in the 50th year of its liberation, BJP state unit president Laxmikant Parsenkar said.

And even the temples which he visits repeatedly are being broken and robbed. Most of the temple robberies which have taken place in recent times are in his constituency of Margao, Parsenkar said.

As chief minister, Digambar Kamat’s high profile visits to temples in Goa and across the country along with his wife, are highly publicized in the state media, thanks to the department of information and publicity, which provide the local media exhaustive photo coverage of Kamat’s pilgrimages to temples in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and various religious sites in Goa.

Goa has also been plagued by a series of temple robberies, especially in and around Kamat’s home constituency Margao. The chief minister has already set up a special task force to nab the gang of temple thieves, who have broken and vandalized more than 50 temples in the last couple of years.

Kamat’s repeated visits to New Delhi, to meet the party high command to quell the repeatedly occurring political crises, have also been attacked by the BJP.

What is this chief minister who cannot take his own decision? For every second thing, he has to run to Delhi to handle things. Is this the way the chief minister should behave? Is there no sense of responsibility, Parsenkar asked.