Team Herald
NEW DELHI: The three-member Cabinet Advisory Committee is set to make a comeback and Goa shall remain under its absentee Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as the crisis over the change of guard in the State’s ruling coalition has been stamped out by BJP National general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal. With this, the first serious bid to change an ailing Chief Minister has been scuttled on the fifth day of the Ganesh Chovth visarjan (immersion).
As BJP National president Amit Shah called on Parrikar at AIIMS to inquire about his health in the wake of the Congress MLAs in Goa staking claim to form the government in the State again, Parrikar is understood to have given the names of three ministers to the BJP chief as a coordination committee to look after the Goa government. The committee shall be just as the same CAC that was constituted during his absence on his first trip to the United States for over two months for treatment.
Sources at BJP headquarters revealed that Ram Lal threatened the allies wanting a permanent solution by appointing a new chief minister by saying that the BJP would rather prefer dissolution of the Assembly and imposition of the President’s Rule for fresh Assembly elections than bow to their demands. Ram Lal’s curt message to the press in Goa, “BJP-led State government is stable; no one has put any proposal of leadership change before us. Alliance partners have agreed to accept the decision that BJP high command takes on the alternative arrangement in absence of CM Parrikar,” is a signal enough that BJP High Command treated the allies with an iron hand.
Sources confirmed that the possibility of dissolution and President’s Rule is very much on the cards to prevent the Congress from poaching MLAs from the ruling alliance. BJP’s worry is that the allies and Independents today outnumber the BJP as its effective strength is reduced from 14 to 11 in view of three, including the CM, in hospitals.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is understood to have been asked by the party leadership not to visit Goa or meddle into the developments and allow the 3-member team of the party to handle the affairs. Gadkari who is also considered close to MGP’s Dhavlikar, who was seen as a replacement to ailing Parrikar, was conspicuous by his absence.
Gadkari had been in thick of BJP’s government formation in Goa in March 2017 despite being reduced to a minority. Gadkari had a major role to play in Parrikar’s return as the CM of Goa relinquishing the high profile post of defence minister and as such his being kept off Goa is an interesting new development. Gadkari also enjoyed excellent equations with BJP’s allies in the State and had successfully kept them from switching loyalties to Congress. His absence at such a crucial juncture is a bit of mystery.
A BJP spokesman in Delhi claimed there is no threat to the stability of the Parrikar government nor the party stipulates to change the Chief Minister in view of his falling health despite he asking the party president to relieve him from the responsibility as the CM. He said the BJP president was able to discuss developments in Goa with Parrikar and that shows he is fully in command even from his sick bed.
The BJP spokesman dismissed the Congress bid to form the government in Goa despite not having the numbers as it has only 16 MLAs in the House of 40 while all other regional parties and three independents are behind the Parrikar government.
In reply to a question, he said the BJP president will formalise an arrangement for the smooth running of the Goa government in the absence of Parrikar. He said the 3-member team rushed to Goa has been also asked to discuss the Lok Sabha elections in the State.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, ailing for the past seven months, remained under observation for the third day on Monday in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here, amid preparations to rush him to the United States where he was undergoing treatment. Doctors described his condition as stable.
