Team Herald

PANJIM: The Goa Legislative Assembly paid condolences to 31 eminent personalities including 12 freedom fighters, Goa’s first and only woman Chief Minister Shashikala Kakodkar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalita, and veteran actor and Padmashree Om Puri. Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant moved the obituary reference, which was supported by the BJP-led coalition government, and NCP’s Churchill Alemao. The Congress MLAs, who had protested Governor Dr Mridula Sinha’s address to the House remained absent throughout the day’s proceedings. 

Supporting the motion, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar cited the popularity of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, whose demise at the age of 68 in December 2016 set off an outpouring of grief among lakhs of supporters in the State.

Parrikar said that the charisma of the popular politician – known as ‘Amma’ or ‘Mother’ – would give other politicians a complex. “The way she (Jayalalitha) had a hold over the State was astonishing. She was one of the most popular leaders,” he told the House paying tribute to Jayalalitha.