Attempts by the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a consensus between party legislators and alliance partners in Goa over alternative leadership due to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s illness remained inconclusive yesterday.
Allocation of portfolios held by Parrikar could take place in the next few days, a minister said.
BJP’s general secretary Ram Lal and party observers B L Santosh and Vijay Puranik met legislators from the BJP, allies Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward, and independent lawmakers for several hours at a hotel in Panaji.
Lal said he will address the media today.
Earlier in the day, BJP legislators emerged from their meetings with the party observers and supported continuation of Parrikar as chief minister ‘till he is alive’.
“Within the BJP, they should find somebody and Parrikar should remain the chief minister till he is alive,” BJP legislator Nilesh Cabral told reporters.
Parrikar was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.
MGP leaders, including Public Works Department Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, insisted that no leadership issue was discussed by their representatives with BJP’s central leaders.
“What was discussed today was not about the government, but about the people of Goa. No leadership issue was discussed,” Dhavalikar said.
Till Saturday, MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar had insisted that the administration was suffering on account of Parrikar’s repeated absence and a functional chief minister was necessary.
Dhavalikar yesterday maintained that Parrikar was well and clearing files, so there was no question of giving any other person the chief ministerial charge.
However, Goa Forward president and Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai’s move to bunch together six legislators - including himself and two from Goa Forward - and make a collective demand for a “permanent solution” caused discomfiture to the BJP’s central observers.
“We met the BJP central observers and impressed upon them to find a permanent solution to the leadership issue. Ad-hocism is not an option. We asked them to take their time and not act in haste. We also told them to take the views of Parrikar and arrive at a decision,” Sardesai told reporters after meeting Ram Lal.
Sardesai on Saturday rejected a proposal mooted by the MGP to appoint Dhavalikar the deputy chief minister, who would officiate as chief minister in Parrikar’s absence.
Asked if the BJP had discussed finding a permanent solution to the leadership issue with alliance leaders, Ram Lal responded with a firm “no.”
State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said that “there is no question of change in leadership”.
The state BJP’s core committee is expected to meet today to deliberate the issue in the presence of the three observers.
The BJP has 14 members in the 40-member assembly, of which three are severely ill. Support of allies is thus critical to the survival of the alliance government.
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