Parrikar’s samadhi site defiled, protesters ate non-veg food: BJP

Panaji, July 14 (IANS) Leaders and workers of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and an Independent MLA defiled the proposed samadhi site of former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar by eating 'chicken and mutton' at the premises during a protest meeting on Saturday, Goa BJP spokesperson Damu Naik said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here, Naik also said that GFP President and former Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai, who was among the four ministers sacked from the Pramod Sawant cabinet on Saturday, had no right to claim the legacy of Parrikar, because he had called the former Defence Minister a 'dalal' and 'Hitler' in the past.

"By misusing the proposed site for Parrikar's samadhi and eating chicken and mutton there, these leaders and their workers have defiled the premises. A samadhi site has a sanctity to it. People pray at the site for the departed soul. Parrikar was our tallest leader, our guru," Naik said.

The BJP spokesperson was referring to a protest meeting at the samadhi site on Saturday organised by the GFP, hours after four cabinet ministers, including three from their party, were sacked by Chief Minister Sawant.

The sackings paved the way for the induction of four new faces in the Sawant cabinet, three of whom were Congress defectors and part of a contingent of 10 MLAs who broke away from the opposition party and merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on July 10.

At the protest meeting, Sardesai had accused the BJP state leadership of trying to destroy Parrikar's legacy and had instead claimed that he, along with the three other sacked ministers, would take the late Chief Minister's legacy ahead.

However, Naik claimed the contrary, stating that the BJP was capable of taking forward Parrikar's legacy on its own and accused Sardesai and the GFP of slandering Parrikar's image in the past.

"You had called Parrikar a 'dalal' and 'Hitler', how can you take his legacy ahead," Naik said.