Panaji, Aug 28: The Congress party appears confused over the casino issue in Goa, with All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijaya Singh saying that the party was not against casinos, even as the man who said that granting licenses to off-shore casinos was a mistake, sat next to him. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Luizinho Faleiro has on many an occasion spoken about his reservations against casinos, going to the extent of calling for an outright ban, but Singh's statements on Saturday put the Congress president and its supporters in a tight spot.
Asked to comment on the party's stance on the presence of offshore casinos vessels in the River Mandovi, Singh on Saturday said that Congress was not against the presence of casinos in the state but preferred if the offshore casinos were moved out of the river.
"Congress is not against casinos, we gave them the licences. We just want them moved out of Mandovi (river). There is a need to define how far from the coast the casinos have to be moved," Singh said, while addressing the media in Panaji, after chairing the coordination committee meeting of the GPCC.
Congress, which forms the opposition in the state, has constantly opposed moves to relocate offshore casinos to other rivers in the state.
On earlier occasions, GPCC president Faleiro has admitted that granting licenses to casinos was a mistake made by the Congress and had called for a complete ban on gambling and live gaming.
"The casino culture should be banned, whether it is onshore or offshore. It is an evil affecting Goan society. Many young Goan youth are falling for this culture ruining their life and destroying the families," he had said in June 2015.
In the heart of the state capital in the waters of the River Mandovi, five offshore casinos - MV Pride of Goa or Casino Pride, MV Horseshoe (Deltin Royale Casino), MV Boa Sorte (Casino Pride 2), MV Casino Royale (Deltin JAQK) and MV Floatel (Deltin Royale Caravela) remain anchored.
The BJP had held an anti-offshore casino agitation in the state prior to the 2012 state elections, even staging a rally with a firetorch (mashal) rally and had come to power subsequently on the promise that the casinos would be shifted out.