Parrikar should reveal nature of ailment in public interest: Cong

With the ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hopsitalised and skipping office for nearly a fortnight due to severe illness, the Congress in Goa has now demanded that the Parrikar reveal the exact nature of his ailment in “public interest”.

State Congress president Shantaram Naik on Wednesday, also accused the BJP-led coalition Government under Manohar Parrikar of abandoning its responsibility to Governance, claiming that Governance and decision-making had completely halted with the Chief Minister who holds more than 20 portfolios, admitted to a Goa hospital for the fourth-day running for dehydration, according to the Chief Minister’s Office.

“Parrikar holds more than 20 portfolios, which includes critical departments like Home department and Mining, Finance etc. With him in hospital, administration and decision-making in all these ministries has come to a standstill. Goa cannot afford this. The State is effectively headless for the last 15 days.

“What kind of Governance is this,” Naik told a press conference in Panaji. 

“We have sympathies for Parrikar, but the CM should be transparent about his illness. He should be true to the people of Goa who have elected him,” Naik also said, adding that if the claims of the CMO that Parrikar was suffering from a mild illness, there was no need for the Bharatiya Janata Party cadre to hold ‘Mahamrityunjay jap’ (chants to defy death) ceremonies across the state.

Parrikar was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on February 15, where the former Defence Minister was being treated for a pancreas-related ailment, according to the CMO.

 Parrikar later airdashed to Goa on February 22 to deliver a truncated budget speech, before being shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital on Sunday, further raising doubts about the Chief Minister’s health.