Parrikar to shed portfolios but retain home and finance

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar informed his cabinet colleagues on Friday of his desire to let go of most of his portfolios as he undergoes treatment for a pancreatic ailment at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AAIMS).

Confirming the CM’s decision, leader of the Goa Forward Party and cabinet minister Vijai Sardesai said Parrikar wants the redistributed done by the Dussehra festival on 19 October.

Parrikar first met members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) core committee including three MPs— Vinay Tendulkar (Rajya Sabha) and the state’s two Lok Sabha MPs, Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar— and Dattaprasad Kholkar and Sunil Desai. He later held individual meetings with each of his cabinet colleagues including leaders of Goa’s ruing alliance Sardesai, Sudin Dhavalikar (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) and independent ministers Rohan Khaunte and Govind Gaude.

“He wants to distribute his portfolios and he wants discussions in that regard. He held today’s interaction before the allocation,” Sardesai told HT. He added that portfolio allocation to allies will be the CM’s prerogative. It is understood that Parrikar will retain the portfolios of home, finance and personnel while redistributing others including the important portfolios of mines and geology, education, environment, forests and airports.

Reacting to the development, the Congress party alleged that with the CM away, the administration had come to a standstill but the government was pretending that things were moving. “The entire exercise is a media drama. They want to show that something is happening and that things are moving. BJP’s allies have already surrendered their backbone to the Delhi high command,” said state Congress president Girish Chodankar.

On Friday, the Goa unit of Shiv Sena joined the opposition Congress in demanding that the assembly be dissolved.“We have asked the Governor that she should not only dismiss the current Parrikar-led government but also dissolve the assembly to end the impasse and provide relief to people,” Shiv Sena state president Jitesh Kamat said.