Thursday, February 3 2005 17:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Attacking as "illegal" his removal from office by the governor, ousted Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today (Feb 3, 2005) attributed the recent political events in the State to his "strong action" against a "corrupt" Minister who later switched sides to the Congress.

Parading 16 party MLAs before the national media at the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) headquarters in New Delhi, he said the "blatantly illegal and conspiratorial" dismissal of his Government after it won the vote of confidence on the floor of the Assembly "can damage the country's federal structure."

Parrikar claimed that the recent political events were triggered off after he stripped Antanasio 'Babush' Monserrate off the Town and Country Planning portfolio in the wake of numerous complaints that "he had started indulging in massive corruption by converting land into commercial zone and bypassing the established development plan".

"The people were naturally concerned that Goa would be ruined and turned into a concrete jungle if the Minister's corrupt practices remained unchecked. Therefore, even at the risk of reducing my Government's majority in the house, on January 27, I stripped of this important portfolio," Parrikar said.

Parrikar, who was flanked by party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and general secretary Sushma Swaraj, even claimed that he took the leader of Opposition and current Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane into confidence that "action against Monserrate had become necessary to save Goa."