Turning Goa Raj Bhavan into a five star resort! BJP, Congress trade charges

The ongoing controversy over a proposed new Raj Bhavan complex on Monday took a messy turn, after the Congress in Goa alleged that the BJP-led coalition government wanted to convert the existing Governor’s House into a five-star resort with casino facilities.

Reacting to the Congress charge, Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade demanded that state Congress president Girish Chodankar provide proof to back his allegation or else refrain from making “baseless charges”.

“One cannot make baseless allegations like this. Chodankar should show proof before shooting his mouth. Goans will not take it lying down if politicians decide to convert Raj Bhavan into a five star hotel,” Tanavade told reporters on Monday, when asked to react the charge made by Chodankar.

The controversy has erupted amid a war of words between Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, which has lasted for several weeks now.

After Malik had publicly reprimanded Sawant for trying to “put words in his mouth” over media criticism of the state government’s efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, the Governor on August 1 shot down a proposal mooted by the Chief Minister to construct a new Raj Bhavan premises calling it “irrational and imprudent” especially a time when the state government was grappling with financial resources required to fight the pandemic.

Amid the power tussle between the CM and the Governor, the main opposition party in Goa, the Congress had alleged that the state government was keen to build a new Raj Bhavan complex, so that the existing premises — which dates back several centuries — could be handed over to a five-star resort chain for the purposes of setting up a casino operation.