Panaji: State Food and Drugs Administration Minister Vishwajit Rane and Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo on Monday entered into war of words over the raids on latter’s restaurant.
Addressing a press conference, Lobo alleged that Rane was ‘going personal’ over the businesses that are owned by him and his wife, Delilah, who is also a Member of Legislative Assembly.
The Leader of Opposition claimed that a team of Food and Drugs Administration officials was raiding the premises of the restaurants owned by him and ordering their sealing on ‘flimsy grounds.’
Lobo alleged that Rane was going overboard against him. “I have been in these businesses even before I became the MLA. All this while, there was no issue on these businesses but suddenly when I am in opposition, the raids have started,” the Congress MLA, representing Calangute Assembly constituency said.
The Leader of Opposition warned that he would be filing criminal complaints against the FDA officials, who were stopping the customers from entering his restaurant at Anjuna, where the team had arrived on Monday.
Minutes after the press conference, Rane, who is currently out of Goa, released series of tweets defending his action.
Rane tweeted “Please stop crying foul, the law will take it course. I would advice you to follow the rule of law, which his applicable to everyone.”
“With so many illegalities occurring in the coastal belt, I’d like to emphasize that any illegal structure that has obtained an FDA license by presenting false documents will be canceled after due process. LoP cannot complaint when a slew of illegalities are taking place,” he said in another tweet.
Rane wrote “The LoP apparently as per what the facts and reports suggest, as Chairma of the NGPDA has committed numerous illegalities. I don’t believe he is in a position to pass any kind of judgment. This vile outburst in front of the media will not help.”
Tweeting further, Rane wrote “We are all aware that the #congress stands for #corruption. Was this person with a man who went completely power crazy? All of these questions are beyond my ability to answer as an individual, so the report will reveal.”
“It’s also amusing to see as the report suggests, when he was in power, he had no mercy and committed illegalities such as taking away lands and selling them to people outside the state. Who was responsible? How was it accomplished? What was the modus operandi? Citizens must know!” he tweeted.
