Speaker takes back summons against Velip

Climbing down from his tough stance, state legislative assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Saturday announced in the House that he has withdrawn the summons issued against former minister Prakash Velip, which had asked the latter to remain present in the House for insulting the Speaker’s office.

The summons was taken back as the matter has been settled amicably between the two ST leaders in consultation with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

After Velip made allegations against the Speaker over utilisation of government funds for his programmes and organisations, Tawadkar had issued the summons to former Quepem MLA citing the breach of privilege, asking him to appear before him at 3.30 pm on Saturday.

“Persistent to the mention that was made in the House in consultation with the leader of the House Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, I have jointly deliberated with Prakash Velip and have resolved the matter unanimously,” he said.

On the first day of the budget session, the Speaker had alleged that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude had been involved in misappropriation of funds for holding cultural events.

Later, an audio clip allegedly of Gaude went viral, where he was heard threatening tribal welfare director Dashrath Redkar for organising an event in Priol constituency.

On Thursday, Velip addressed a press conference under the banner of the United Tribal Associations Alliance and defended Gaude vis-à-vis corruption allegations, demanding an inquiry into funds utilised by Tawadkar for organising various cultural programmes.