Panaji, Dec 3 (TOI): A day after state BJP president and Rajya Sabha member Vinay Tendulkar claimed that chief minister Manohar Parrikar would call Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the mining issue; the Congress party insisted that Parrikar had no intention to see mining operations restart in Goa.

The BJP was trying to “bluff” mining stakeholders said Congress party spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu. He also demanded that the chief minister’s office should release a video of Parrikar’s telephonic conversation with Modi.

“A video of the phone call will satisfy us,” the Congress leader said, while addressing a press conference at the party headquarters.

According to Tendulkar, the ailing chief minister had assured MLAs that he would call Modi to seek his intervention for immediate resumption of mining in Goa. Legislators had warned Parrikar that it would be difficult for the BJP to win both the state’s Lok Sabha seats if the mining issue was not resolved quickly.

Deshprabhu, a former MLA from Pernem, has repeatedly demanded proof of Parrikar’s ability to govern the tiny state. He had earlier demanded that the state government should issue a medical bulletin on Parrikar or should release photographic proof that Parrikar was meeting ministers and MLAs.

“If such a video is published then we will believe that Parrikar is alive and healthy,” said Deshprabhu, and then went on to question why Parrikar was avoiding the press and the Congress MLAs if he was hale and hearty.