The Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the state’s mining crisis will be resolved soon, PTI reported. The statement came a day after its alliance partner in the state, the Goa Forward Party, threatened to withdraw support by 2019.
Vijai Sardesai, president of the Goa Forward Party, had said on Thursday that the BJP will land in trouble if mining does not resume immediately in the state. “We will not support the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections if they fail to resolve the mining crisis,” he said.
In response, BJP’s Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar said, “There will no issue of Goa Forward Party not supporting BJP during Lok Sabha polls as the mining industry crisis would be resolved soon, much before the upcoming Parliamentary polls.”
All mining companies in Goa stopped their operations on March 16 based on the Supreme Court’s February order quashing the state government’s direction to renew the licenses of mining companies. The Supreme Court had said fresh leases would be issued only after the companies get environment clearances and had ordered the government to start a fresh auction process.
“All the three BJP MPs from Goa are working overtime to find a solution to the crisis,” Tendulkar said on Friday. “We are sure the problem will be resolved soon.” Tendulkar is a Rajya Sabha member, while Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar are Lok Sabha MPs from Goa.
Tendulkar ruled out any possibility of moving an ordinance on the floor of the House to resume the mining activities. “We will try to resolve the matter through courts only,” he said. “We are sure the Supreme Court will give us relief.”
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