Parrikar set to hold meeting with allies in AIIMS on Oct 12

New Delhi, Oct 10: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, will meet the alliance partners of his government on October 12 in the hospital.

Parrikar was admitted to AIIMS on September 15 and since then the BJP's allies in Goa are not at ease. While all the BJP MLAs and coalition partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party rooted for Parrikar continuing as Chief Minister, another alliance partner Goa Forward and three Independent MLAs demanded a "permanent solution" to the ongoing leadership crisis.

"The alliance partners have been called for a meeting by the CM in Delhi on October 12 at AIIMS," a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in Panaji told PTI.

During the meeting, Parrikar would discuss "matters related to the state's governance," he said.
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudin Dhavalikar, Goa Forward Party (GFP) leader Vijai Sardesai and Independent MLAs Govind Gawade, Rohan Khaunte and Prasad Gaonkar, who are supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance in Goa, have been invited for the meeting, the official said.

In the 40-member Goa assembly, the Congress is the largest party with 16 MLAs, five short of the halfway mark. After the Goa polls threw up a hung verdict last year, Parrikar cobbled up a majority for the 14-member BJP with the support of MGP (3), GFP (3) and Independents (3) even as a lone NCP MLA is floating around.

This would be the first formal meeting chaired by Parrikar since his admission to the AIIMS last month.

Highly placed sources said Parrikar is likely to distribute additional portfolios to his Cabinet ministers during this week.

"A discussion is likely in the meeting about portfolios to be distributed to the allies," a source said.
BJP president Amit Shah had last month said Parrikar would continue as the chief minister and that there would be reshuffle of his Cabinet soon.

Later, two ailing ministers Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar were dropped from the Goa Cabinet and they were replaced with Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral.

Questions over the stability of the government have been raised by the Opposition Congress because of Parrikar's illness.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs