the goan I network
PANAJI/VASCO
More than two days after concluding parleys with the local leadership, BJP national president, Amit Shah was yet to either take a decision or announce it to resolve the functional stalemate of its coalition government in Goa with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar confined to AIIMS in Delhi battling a serious pancreatic ailment.
Shah was expected to announce the decision this weekend which sources have said could possibly be to retain Parrikar as a nominal head of the government, albeit shedding the crucial portfolios of Home, Finance and General Administration with the leaders of coalition partners Sudin Dhavalikar and Vijai Sardesai.
BJP sources said the delay in announcing the decision could be because of Shah’s engagement with larger national issues including the Congress assault on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal and also his schedule in poll-bound Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Meanwhile, coalition partners Goa Forward Party, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) are eagerly awaiting the BJP decision.
TCP Minister Vijai Sardessai, when contacted, said that the ball is in the BJP court and they could do nothing more than await it.
The BJP has been grappling for over a week on how to tackle the paralysis of governance caused by the prolonged absence of Parrikar due to his health issues.
A move to hand over charge to MGP’s Dhavlikar was shot down by Sardesai and the search for an alternative leader from within the BJP to replace Parrikar has also hit a roadblock within the saffron party.
Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, who is also the party’s Goa Unit president, are the two leaders being considered for the role.
Tendulkar, meanwhile said the party had put up a stand that Manohar Parrikar should continue as the chief minister of the State.
“With the absence of the chief minister, development may have slowed down but the government is stable.”
“I want to reiterate my statement and I am firm on this is that 5 Congress MLAs are trying to enter the BJP, but we don’t want to break any party and we will move ahead with the present coalition partners.”
“We have suggested that Manohar Parrikar continue as the chief minister” said Tendulkar.
