n BJP core team drops plans for Delhi visit n MGP, GFP say support is for Parrikar
the goan I network
PANAJI
A day after Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s sudden departure to the United States for treatment for an undisclosed duration, his Bharatiya Janata Party said on Thursday that there were no plans for any “alternative arrangement” to steer the government in Goa.
According to Rajya Sabha MP and BJP’s Goa president, Vinay Tendulkar there is no situation to warrant any interference by the party as of now. He gave no credence to criticism from Opposition Congress and other quarters that absence of Parrikar and his Cabinet colleagues due to serious ailments was affecting governance in the State.
Parrikar is okay and will return soon. He will continue to run the government from there just like before, he said.
The BJP president also said that there were no plans in the party to seek any intervention of the Central leadership for a “alternative arrangement” and virtually refuted the claim made by Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik on Wednesday to that effect.
Naik had said that he and the party’s ‘core team’ were scheduled to meet BJP’s national president, Amit Shah, to discuss the political situation in the wake of Parrikar’s departure to the US.
Naik who was asked by media persons whether the party was contemplating an ‘alternative arrangement’ to steer the government had said that some workable solution would be hammered out by the party’s central leadership. He had admitted that the Chief Minister’s absence from the State coupled with that of two other ailing cabinet ministers was earning the government and the party severe criticism and something needed to be done.
Meanwhile, sources in the party said there were no plans for the Core Committee to travel to Delhi for any discussion with the party ‘High Command’ on the issue although there were other Goa related matters pending with the Centre, including mining.
Some MLAs expressed fears that with Parrikar moving to the US for treatment the issues pending with Centre will get delayed. They raised a demand that the ‘Core Committee’ pursue the mining and other issues with the Centre and the party’s leadership in Delhi, the sources said.
“The core committee considered all these demands and expressed the view that a visit to Delhi for sorting out the mining and other matters could be organised soon,” a party office bearer said.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) a key ally of the BJP-led coalition government, has said there was no question of anyone other than Parrikar heading the government.
“Our support is conditional and only for Parrikar as the chief minister,” MGP president, Dipak Dhavlikar said.
Another key ally, the Goa Forward Party had also ruled out the need for any specific arrangement in the wake of Parrikar’s departure for the US.
GFP president and TCP minister Vijai Sardesai had on Wednesday said that Parrikar will return by September 9 and that they will hold fort until then.
