Hypocrisy of Parrikar to drop ministers on health grounds: Congress

Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar on Monday termed Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's decision to drop two ministers from the state cabinet on health ground as 'laughable and hypocrite'.

Chodankar told ANI that the chief minister himself is bed-ridden yet continues to hold the post. "If they are dropping ministers on health grounds, it is laughable and it is hypocrisy. The Chief Minister is on bed whose condition is worse than the other two ministers. But they are dropped on health grounds while he continues," the Goa Congress president said.

On Monday, Parrikar government dropped two ailing ministers from the 12-member Goa cabinet. A statement was issued by the Goa government stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Francis D'Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar, who have been keeping ill for some time, have been dropped out of the cabinet.

D'Souza headed the urban development department while Madkaikar was the power minister.

The decision was taken at a time when Chief Minister Parrikar is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.