NCP uses rape incident to hit out at Congress in Goa

The rape of a minor Russian girl here has prompted the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to attack its senior ruling coalition partner, Congress, in Goa.

Tourism minister and NCP legislator Fransisco Pacheco today asked the Congress high command to act against the party ministers who are not "able to handle their portfolios".

Reacting to the sexual assault on the nine-year-old at North Goa's Arambol beach, he said, "If some ministers cannot handle their portfolios, then they should give them up."

"Congress high command should take action against its ministers who fail to deliver," he told PTI this morning.

Pacheco declined to take any names, but apparently, his target seems to be state home minister, Ravi Naik of Congress.

He said the January 26 incident was shameful, and reflects on the poor law and order situation in the state, where Congress is heading for a coalition government.

"I had moved a confidential file to the chief minister and called for an urgent meeting between the home ministry and tourism ministry in his (CM) presence," Pacheco said. "But there was no response to my communication from chief minister's office."

Pacheco, who in the past had expressed fears about Goa being branded as India's rape capital, said he was tired of talking about failure of law and order in the state. "The (rape) incidents are an insult to Goa. Why should the state get a bad name only because of inefficiency of a few ministers?"

He feared that tourism will also take a hit.