Goa: In a blistering attack on Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, opposition leaders have raised serious concerns about the state’s escalating debt, deteriorating law and order, and the misuse of public resources. On Tuesday, leaders like Vijai Sardesai and Amit Palekar took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express their outrage over the CM’s recent actions, particularly his decision to send police forces to other states to investigate certain “derogatory” videos circulating on social media.
The controversy erupted after Goa Police were dispatched to Haryana to probe videos allegedly aimed at defaming the Goa government. This move has been widely criticized by the opposition, who argue that it reflects a worrying misallocation of state resources at a time when Goa faces much more pressing issues at the same time arguing that only facts have been presented in the videos.
Vijai Sardesai, president of the Goa Forward Party, was among the first to voice his concerns. In a series of posts, Sardesai questioned why the government was spending taxpayer money on what he described as a politically motivated investigation, rather than addressing the state’s growing financial crisis. “Instead of fixing the mess in our state, our CM is busy chasing shadows in other states,” Sardesai remarked, adding that Goa’s debt continues to balloon under Sawant’s leadership.
Amit Palekar, the AAP Goa president, echoed Sardesai’s sentiments, further intensifying the critique. In a sharply worded post on X, Palekar highlighted the absurdity of the government’s priorities. “How money is being spent on events when we have a debt of about 31,000 crore and no money to spend on the Samadhi of our first CM,” Palekar tweeted. He questioned the need for investigating social media posts, suggesting that the government’s actions were more about silencing dissent than protecting the state’s reputation. “Goa cops have more important jobs to do than investigate social media posts and silence freedom of speech,” Palekar added.
The opposition’s criticisms come against a backdrop of rising public dissatisfaction with the Sawant administration. Many Goans are concerned that while the state’s coffers are running dry, the government is trying to cover up on scams highlighted by opposition by choosing to focus on trivial matters rather than addressing the severe issues affecting the state, such as the deteriorating law and order situation.
In light of these developments, the opposition has demanded greater transparency from the government regarding its financial management and law enforcement priorities.