Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrika crticised the Congress-led state government on Tuesday for making half- hearted efforts to host this year's International Film Festival of India and said the controversy over the invitation to Amitabh Bachchan was avoidable.
Mr Parrikar, considered the brain behind making the tiny coastal state as the permanent venue for the IFFI, said despite his reservations at the lack of enthusiasm at the state government level, he felt Goa was the best venue to host the festival permanently.
During his tenure, the former chief minister said, he had taken the initiative to encourage faster decision-making and organisation of events but ''this time a pro-active role of the state government was missing.''
''The messy co-ordination over the choice of chief guest at the start of the festival stands for the state government's lack of coordination.
Besides, shifting of the fringe activities from Miramaar to Caranzalem was not a good idea. "Similarly, the attitude of the local authorities to attend to the glitches is not positive,'' he said.
''However, I have heard the selection of films is very good and for that the credit goes to festival director Afzal Amanullah,'' Parrika said.
Asked to comment on Minister of Culture Jaipal Reddy crediting Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane for bringing the festival to the state, Mr Parrikar said the Centre had announced Goa as the permanent venue in 2003 and "I had taken the initiative of creating the infrastructure last year on a written assurance from the Centre.''
''Anyway, I have no heartburn. For me, the festival happening in Goa is more important,'' Mr Parrikar said.
On his decision to stay away from it, the former CM said, ''I did not attend the inauguration because the invite was given to me late and I could not cancel my prior engagements. In what capacity should I be associated with the festival this year, I am neither a film critic nor a film buff''.
