Manohar Parrikar flown to AIIMS, Gadkari to visit Goa today

New Delhi/Panaji: With Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar being admitted at the All India Institue of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Union minister Nitin Gadkari is expected to reach the state on Monday amid speculation that senior-most minister in the state government and Maharashtra Gomantak Party’s Sudin Dhavilkar could be name the caretaker chief minister. Mr Parrikar had been unwell due to pancreatic ailment for the past eight months. Mr Gadkari is likely to discuss the issue with the BJP’s state core group before any decision in this regard in announced.

Mr Parrikar, 62, had returned from the US in the first week of September and was admitted at the Dukle Hospital at Candolim earlier this week from where he was shifted to the AIIMS on Saturday afternoon.  Earlier this year, he had undergone a three-month-long treatment in the US. Mr Parrikar had formed a Cabinet Advisory Committee to guide the state during his absence.

The two-day long state executive meeting of the BJP is also scheduled on September 29 and the state leadership want the party top brass to resolve the issue so that the state administration does not get affected, especially at a time when the opposition Congress is building pressure for fresh polls.

On Saturday the MGP said that it was “high time” the chief minister handed over the charge to the seniormost minister during his absence in the state.

The MGP with its three legislators, has given support to the BJP to form the government in the state along with the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and other independent legislators.

“It is high time Parrikar hands over the charge to the seniormost minister for smooth functioning of the government,” said MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar.

When asked about Mr Parrikar’s replacement as chief minister, BJP president Amit Shah, who was in Hyderabad, said “We are praying for his health to improve and the party will take a decision at an appropriate time.”    

Mr Dhavalikar said in the last eight months, the government has not been able to function smoothly. He said Mr Parrikar can remain the chief minister and hand over the charge to someone else in his absence.

When asked whether he wanted his elder brother and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar to be given the charge, he said, “I don’t know...Let them tell who is the seniormost. I am just saying that whoever is given charge should be the seniormost. Let them tell who is the seniormost.”

Mr Sudin Dhavalikar, who is the the Public Works Department (PWD) minister, is the seniormost member in the Parrikar-led Cabinet. The MGP chief also ruled out any possibility of the MGP’s merger with the BJP.

“There is no question of merger. We are not interested in the merger. It will never happen. We have built the party over several years and it is the hope for future of Goa’s politics. We have 12-13 per cent vote share in the state, so where is the question of merging the party,” Mr Dhavalikar added.     

The MGP’s demand, however, met with resistance from other NDA ally.

“What can I comment on MGP’s statement? Everything that MGP wants need not happen. In an alliance, decisions are taken collectively. It cannot be the demand of a single party,” Goa Forward Party chief and state agriculture minister Vijai Sardesai said. He said that Mr Parrikar had formed the Cabinet Advisory Committee to govern in his absence earlier by consulting allies, adding that, even at the time, he had not handed over the charge to the “seniormost minister”.