Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar did an Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday when he told residents of a slum near here that it is okay to accept Rs 500 from candidates to attend rallies, but they should cast votes for the BJP only.
"...I understand if someone organises a rally and you take Rs 500 for moving around with (the candidate), that is not a problem. But when you vote, choose the lotus (BJP's poll symbol). This you must remember," Parrikar told the corner meeting at Chimbel, a suburb of the state capital.
His advice came on a day when the Election Commission directed the state poll officials to file an FIR against Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal for making a similar statement.
Kejriwal, in his public speeches in Goa earlier this month, had asked people to accept money give by rival parties, but vote for the Aam Aadmi Party.
The Election Commission on Sunday pulled up Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for targeting the poll panel and told Goa officials to file an FIR against him.
Taking cognisance of a media report wherein the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader attacked the Election Commission wondering if it was taking orders from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the poll panel called the remarks "baseless", "scurrilous" and "highly depreciable".
"The substance, tone and tenor of the address/interview are not only baseless and scurrilous but also unethical and highly depreciable against Election Commission, a constitutional authority," the Commission said in a strongly-worded letter to Kejriwal.
Taking umbrage to Kejriwal's remarks made during his campaign for the Goa assembly polls, the Election Commission directed that a First Information Report be slapped against him.
"We have been asked to file an FIR and send a compliance report by January 31," an official source told IANS in Panaji.