Panaji, Amid demands for dismissal of his government by the opposition and confusion in the state BJP ranks over leadership issues, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar left for the US from Mumbai early on Thursday, for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.
“The Chief Minister left by a 1.30 a.m. flight. He is expected to be back in a week’s time,” sources close to Parrikar said.
Parrikar was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital last week, hours after he returned to Goa from a New York medical facility, following a second round of treatment abroad.
The Congress in the state has appealed to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to dismiss the BJP-led coalition government in the coastal state due to the severe health crisis that has hit the state cabinet.
Four out of the 12 cabinet ministers including Parrikar, have been suffering from serious ailments, which has forced them to abstain from discharging their official duty to full capacity.
On Wednesday, there was confusion in the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as alliance partners, over facilitating an “alternative arrangement” in the absence of Parrikar.
While Union Minister of the State for AYUSH and North Goa MP Shripad Naik told reporters on Wednesday, that he would be meeting party chief Amit Shah along with the members of its state core committee to form an alternative arrangement, some members of the committee later said that there were no such plans on the anvil.
The Chief Minister’s Office was later forced to issue a statement saying Parrikar himself would be overseeing functioning of the coalition government from the US.
Parrikar was diagnosed in February and was treated in a New York medical facility from March to June. On August 10, Parrikar had again left for the US for review of his treatment.
