BJP may set up committee to make up for Parrikar’s absence

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking at reappointing a Cabinet Advisory Committee (CAC) to sanction expenditure proposals on Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s behalf, officials familiar with the proposed move said on Tuesday.

The proposal has come as the opposition Congress has staked its claim to form a government in Goa. The party has demanded the BJP-led alliance government’s dismissal in Goa citing the illness of Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

In a letter to governor Mridula Sinha, the Congress on Monday said Parrikar was “unable to function and the governance has come to a standstill”.

A final decision with CAC’s regard was likely to be taken as early as Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the officials said. “The structure will be the same, only the dates of the notification will have to be changed,” said an official, referring to the three-member CAC that was appointed when Parrikar was away from February to June for his pancreatic ailment treatment.

Sinha had formed the panel on Parrikar’s recommendation. The panel had a member each from the BJP and its alliance partners, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP). The committee had powers to approve proposals for works costing up to ₹10 crore.

Each minister had been given powers to sanction expenditure worth ₹2 crore, which they otherwise do not have in the chief minister’s presence.

The BJP will have to find a replacement for Francis D’Souza, who was earlier part of CAC but is now undergoing treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York state.

Officials said Parrikar had initially expressed his inability to discharge his duties and showed his willingness to distribute his portfolios among other ministers. But the move caused rumbling of displeasure within the coalition over who would be the interim chief minister.

Several BJP lawmakers have pitched for the interim arrangement – CAC – to ensure that the governance does not suffer on account of Parrikar’s absence.

A meeting of the Congress state party chief Girish Chodankar and governor Mridula Sinha was underway Tuesday evening, a day after the party staked claim to form the government. Congress leader and former chief minister Digambar Kamat told reporters the Congress had the moral right to be in power with 16 lawmakers, five short of the majority mark in the 40-member house, while the BJP effectively has only 11.

Another Congress leader, Reginaldo Lourenço, claimed the BJP-led government was in a minority and his party has “more than enough reason” to stake the claim.

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