Parrikar shifted to Goa residence for treatment
REGULAR FOLLOWUP A team of doctors has been put on standby to attend to the CM
NEWDELHI/PANAJI: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar was shifted to his residence back in the state on Sunday afternoon from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after being treated at the hospital in the capital for almost a month.
Parrikar, who is being treated for a pancreatic ailment, was flown to his home state on board a special plane. He landed in Panaji at around 2.30pm and was shifted to a waiting ambulance to be moved to his private residence at Dona Paula amid tight security. A team of doctors from the Goa Medical College and Hospital has been put on standby to attend to the chief minister.
“His health has improved over the last 15 days. His treatment is over; he should rest now. He can undergo future treatment in Goa,” North Goa MP and Union minister of state for Ayush Shripad Naik said.
An official at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “His condition deteriorated yesterday and he had to be admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). He was then discharged today, but he is still unwell and would need regular follow-up.”
“He said that he would like to be treated in Goa, closer to home,” said the doctor treating Parrikar.
Parrikar was briefly shifted to the ICU at AIIMS after his condition deteriorated but doctors agreed to release him as planned after his health improved on Sunday.
Parrikar, who met his Cabinet colleagues in Delhi on Friday, discussed redistribution of portfolios in view of his inability to continue discharging his duties.
An official announcement of a change in portfolios is likely after October 19, a government official said.
Parrikar has visited the US thrice this year to get treatment for his pancreatic ailment, according to officials.
On Saturday, the Congress alleged that the administration in the state was crippled due to Parrikar’s absence.
“The state is headless, governance is paralysed, administration is crippled, there is complete breakdown of authority, rule of law has collapsed, people are feeling cheated with absolutely no policy and direction and Goa is in chaos. We wish Parrikar a speedy recovery and a long life, but his ailment cannot be an impediment to the aspirations of the people of Goa,” state Congress president Girish Chodankar said.
The Congress remains the single largest party in the Goa assembly with 16 members. The BJP, with 14 members, relies on the support of two regional parties – the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Forward Party – with three members each, besides independent MLAs to achieve majority in the 40-member House.
The Congress has been demanding Parrikar’s resignation on account of his prolonged illness. Some Congress legislators in Goa had met Governor Mridula Sinha on September 19 to stake claim to form the government on the pretext of being the single-largest party in the state.
Parrikar had been flown to Delhi on September 15 after he had a conversation with BJP president Amit Shah.
He had been admitted to the old private ward at AIIMS under a team of doctors headed by Dr Pramod Garg, professor of gastroenterology at the hospital. This was after Parrikar returned to Goa on September 6 after his third visit to the US for the treatment of his pancreatic ailment.
Leaders of the ruling BJP and its allies have ruled out any change in leadership in the coastal state.
The cabinet ministers have decided to meet without the chief minister at the secretariat every week to review the situation in the state, a move seen as a means to prevent the Congress from capitalising on the current political situation.