Panaji, Nov 9 (IANS): Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar on Thursday alleged that former Chief Minister, late Manohar Parrikar hoodwinked the people of the state over the alleged “mining scam” of Rs 35,000 crore to usurp power.

“Every Goan knows how in 2012 Manohar Parrikar fooled the people by creating a narrative that a scam of Rs 35,000 crore had taken place (in the then Congress regime). On this basis the BJP came to power,” Patkar said, addressing a press conference here.

“After coming to power, he (Parrikar) changed his statement and said that the scam was not of Rs 35,000 crore, but of around Rs 2000 crore,” Patkar said.

“Eventually then a committee of Chartered Accountants was constituted and a detailed investigation was done. The audit committee stated that the total illegal mining amount was approximately Rs 352 crore and not Rs 35,000 crore. Thus, another BJP ‘jumla’ was exposed,” Patkar said.

He added that the BJP government failed to recover even these Rs 352 crore. “The Government has failed to recover the dues from erstwhile lease holders for the illegal mining done from 2007 till 2012,” he said.

He added that not only had the BJP Government in Goa failed to recover the money payable by various companies, it was allowing these firms to loot the state further by auctioning mining blocks.

“Today we have exposed how the BJP Government is hand in glove with the crony capitalist friends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We demand to recover the dues immediately from these companies and also cancel the auctioned blocks which have been illegally given to them in spite of defaulting on payment of hundreds of crores,” Patkar said.