the goan I network
PANAJI
A day after he embarrassed his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with his outbursts against the party-led coalition government for failure to tackle the unemployment problem, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo earned a call and reprimand for breaching political discipline and decorum from Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS.
Lobo however declined to comment on the development.
Sources in the CMO confirmed that the Chief Minister did call the Calangute MLA on Saturday but said they were not privy to what transpired in the telephonic conversation between the two leaders.
But the ripples caused by Lobo’s outbursts on Friday only added to the urgency faced by Parrikar and the BJP’s Central leadership to quickly fix the impasse in Goa and arrest the damage it is causing to the party’s image.
Big changes in the government can be expected in the government next week, a top BJP source said, adding that Parrikar has already sounded out his Cabinet colleagues of a crucial meeting he is planning to hold in Delhi on October 10.
Although the agenda for the meeting has not been divulged, Parrikar could hammer out consensus and concurrence of the coalition to effecting major changes in the balance of power, including Parrikar himself stepping down.
The Election Commission declaring dates for polls in five States on Saturday has revived discussion on Parrikar stepping down, the top BJP source said. One factor why the move was deferred the last time was the possibility that the bye-poll to fill the Panjim seat if Parrikar resigned would be tagged with the schedule of these five States.
If consensus continues to elude the coalition on replacing Parrikar, the other options expected to be discussed at the October 10 meeting in Delhi, include allocating some of the weighty portfolios held by him among cabinet colleagues.
Finance, Home, General Administration and Personnel are some of the departments which Parrikar holds and are said to be the hampering movement of files and decision-making due to his physical absence in the State.
For months the beleagured Parrikar-led coalition government has been struggling to fight the perception of governance paralysis due to the prolonged health-related absenteeism of the Chief Minister.
On September 24, Parrikar and the BJP central leadership attempted to nip the non-performance image by replacing two other ailing and absent Cabinet ministers -- Francis D’Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar -- with Milind Naik and Nilesh Cabral in a minor Cabinet re-shuffle.
The move however earned even louder criticism with the Opposition Congress latching on to the contradiction of an ailing Parrikar ‘refusing’ to step down but dropping D’Souza and Madkaikar on grounds of health.
It also triggered intense hurt-burn within the BJP legislature party with two MLAs, Rajesh Patnekar and Glenn Ticlo publicly expressing discontent at being overlooked for a ministerial berth, before Lobo ultimately unleashed his vitriolic outburst on Friday.
