Panaji, March 27 (IANS) BJP legislators from coastal Goa should be probed for their links to the drug mafia, the Congress demanded Thursday.
Its demand came while responding to a charge levelled by a rebel Congress candidate, who Wednesday claimed that former home minister and Congress candidate for the North Goa seat Ravi Naik was linked to the drug mafia and that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was turning a blind eye to drug trade here.
“The same BJP MLAs have been elected to the coastal constituencies for more than a decade now. Their role vis a vis drug trade in those areas should be probed by an investigating agency, ” Congress leader Vijay Bhike told a press conference at the party office here.
Coastal areas like Anjuna, Chapora, Morjim, Arambol, all popular beach tourism destinations, are also known for drug trade which is fuelled by the hundreds and thousands of tourists who frequent the area.
These areas have also elected BJP legislators for the last three to four terms.
The Calangute assembly constituency, which includes beaches like Calangute, Baga, Sinquerim, Candolim, etc also returned a BJP legislator for the first time in 2012.
Congress’s candidate Naik has been indicted in a recent legislative committee report for his links to the drug mafia.
The Congress however claimed that Naik could not be accused of links to the drug mafia because there was no criminal complaint against him.
“Show me where is the complaint against Naik. If there is no criminal complaint how can you accuse him of having drug links?” Bhike said.