After PM, V- P visits Parrikar at Maha hospital

Vice- president Venkaiah Naidu met Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is recuperating from pancreatitis, at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra on Monday. The hospital has denied media reports that Mr Parrikar had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the hospital to meet his former Cabinet colleague. The PM spent 10 minutes at the hospital where Mr Parrikar has been admitted since Friday.

The vice- president of Lilavati Hospital, Ajaykumar Pande, issued statement denying the rumours and stating that Mr Parrikar was responding well to treatment. “It has been brought to our notice, various malicious and misleading reports/ rumours are floating around in the electronic/ print media with regards to the health of the chief minister of Goa ( sic),” the statement

The Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, which began on Monday, would last for only four days owing to the illness of chief minister Manohar Parrikar

read. Despite the statement, some reports suggested that Mr Parrikar is suffering from a serious ailment. In fact, the statement by Michael Lobo, deputy speaker and BJP legislator from Goa on Monday that, if the need arises, Mr Parrikar might be shifted to the US has only strengthened speculation.

However, speaker Pramod Sawant of the Goa Assembly appealed to the people not to believe in rumours about the chief minister’s health.