the goan I network
PANAJI
Amid the continued uncertainty over the health status of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar through most part of the week, TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai on Saturday said he met and discussed several issues with him on Saturday.
Sardesai tried to play down the speculation over Parrikar’s health and said: “I don’t think it is as bad as media reports are making it to be,” Sardesai told the media while commenting on the Chief Minister’s health condition after a visit to his private residence in Dona Paula.
He however refused to comment any further on Parrikar’s health saying: “I am not a doctor.”
Sardesai, who on Friday had publicly expressed uncertainty about the coalition government’s longevity apparently due to the reports on Parrikar’s health faltering, indicated that visiting him was motivated by his desire to himself ascertain the leader’s health status.
Although Sardesai said he discussed issues related to several files as well as politics, the chief minister told him that politics, the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections besides other coalition matters will be discussed and resolved later once he tides over his immediate health predicament.
Parrikar has been battling advance pancreatic cancer since February last year. He spent over three months between March-June last year in New York where he was treated at the globally renowned Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.
He surprised everyone with a physically spirited performance in the monsoon session of the Goa legislative Assembly in July-August but his health took a hit and he was air-lifted to AIIMS Delhi. Since his return from there he has been mostly confined to his private residence making sporadic public appearances with medical appendages including a feeding pipe and leg bags.
Earlier this week his health began to falter and on Wednesday evening, he was put on oxygen support with doctors diagnosing fluids in the lungs.
