The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Wednesday singled out Tourism and Social Welfare Minister Dilip Parulekar, alleging that he is the "worst performing minister in the Goa cabinet".
"The tourism department is absolutely directionless without any policy. The beaches are dirty. There are no proper toilet facilities, no changing rooms for tourist, irritation from hawkers has reached its peak, and crime against women is on the rise," NCP spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said at a press conference here.
The attack on Parulekar comes after Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's promise to audit the performance of all his 11 ministers ahead of a portfolio reshuffle.
Parulekar's performance has also been consistently criticised by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) colleague Michael Lobo, who was linked by the media to an alleged coup attempt to overthrow the Parrikar-led government. Lobo has denied the reports.
Rumours of a coup sponsored by some Congress and Independent legislators were rife after Parrikar left for a personal visit to Europe a couple of weeks ago, during which some disgruntled BJP leaders met the alleged plotters in South Goa, according to some media reports.
But the attempt fizzled after the chief minister's return to the state.
Parrikar is expected to announce a reshuffle of portfolios anytime next week. The chief minister allotted two portfolios each to every minister after the party came to power in March 2012, and he promised to allot one more portfolio to every minister after reviewing their performance.
In the 40-member Goa legislative assembly, the BJP has 21 members, the Congress nine, and the rest are either Independents or belong to regional parties.
