Team Herald
PANJIM: Remembering Goa’s first lady Chief Minister, Shashikala Kakodkar, on her first death anniversary on Saturday, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “The death of tai was a personal loss for me, it created kind of vacuum in my life”.
Daughter of the State’s first Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar, Shashikala ‘Tai’ died on October 28, 2016 after a brief illness. She was 81.
“She was my “comfort zone”, with whom I could speak my heart out and sometimes even frustration,” Parrikar said at a function to mark her death anniversary.
He recalled how during his time as Chief Minister, Kakodkar used to have hours of discussions trying to know the functioning of the government and things happening in the State. “She was my support strength,” he said.
Parrikar said that Kakodkar provided him political advice and even scolded him at times when he was wrong. “What I learnt from her is how to have control anger or frustration,” he said.
Parrikar announced that a series of programmes would be held in Kakodkar’s memory over the year. “She was an inspiration to women,” he said, while turning down the proposal to have her statue in the State, as was proposed by her supporters.
PWD Minister and MGP leader Ramakrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar credited Kakodkar for his political success. “Whatever I am today politically is all because of ‘tai’. I became MLA because she first supported my decision to contest election in 1994,” he said.
