Panaji, Feb 4 (IANS) Goa Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate, who was allegedly named in an Income Tax department report for receiving kickbacks to the tune of Rs.26.5 crore from real estate developers, has been given a Congress party ticket for the March 3 assembly poll.
State Congress president Subhash Shirodkar Saturday said the list of 22 party candidates, which contains Monserrate’s name as a nominee from St. Cruz constituency, has been endorsed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The party chief had drawn up the list using her “own wisdom”, he said.
“The case has only been reported in the media. We will wait for the investigation to finish. Only then we will be able to take a decision on it,” Shirodkar said about the allegations against Monserrate.
According to media reports, Monseratte has been named in an income tax assessment report which claimed that as town and country planning minister in the last Congress-led coalition government he received Rs.26.5 crore from real estate companies.
The kickbacks were paid in order to convert prime agricultural land into real estate- friendly zones, in a land use document called the regional plan 2011, media reports said earlier this week.
The Income Tax assessment report also named Monserrate’s son Rohit, who is a partner in real estate development companies, the media reports said.
Monserrate has said that his record books were clean and, if asked, he would give an explanation on the issue to the party.
Shirodkar said the party had not yet sought an explanation from Monserrate adding: “We will do so when the time is right.”
Civil society groups and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded action against the minister.
“Of course, we are going to use it (Income Tax report) to the fullest. It is a weapon in our hands. It is a central government agency report and the Congress is ruling at the centre now. It is their own document, which indicts their own minister,” said BJP spokesperson Vishnu Wagh.
NGO Goa Bachao Abhiyan, which has been advocating judicious land use, said it had launched an agitation in 2006 to save Goa from illegal conversion of land.
The Income Tax report had now “confirmed our allegations of illegal money being generated in the name of land conversion”, the NGO said.
