‘Tainted ministers like school children’

PANAJI - The Goa Congress chief feels ministers with a tainted background are like school children who had to be given “opportunities to improve”.

“One has to be given a fair chance. I have been a teacher. They are like students, they need to be given opportunities to improve,” Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Subhash Shirodkar said Sunday when asked about the state party unit welcoming tainted education minister Atanasio Monserrate into the party fold.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a press conference to announce a string of celebrations to mark 125 years of the Congress, the leader said the entry of Monserrate along with independent legislator and health minister Vishwajeet Rane into the Congress fold was imminent and would happen in the near future.

Monserrate, presently an unattached legislator from the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), was arrested and remained in police custody for several days for leading a mob which ransacked the main city police station in Panaji, where several women police constables were molested and other police constables received injuries last year.

He was also booked as an abettor in the alleged rape of a minor German girl by his son Rohit. Monserrate’s name was subsequently dropped from the chargesheet.

The Digambar Kamat-led alliance government has several cabinet ministers with criminal pasts, including public works department minister Churchill Alemao and tourism minister Mickky Pacheco.