Congress, NGOs to join rally demanding Parrikar's resignation

The Opposition Congress and NGOs will join a rally here on Tuesday to demand ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's resignation, an organiser of the march said on Monday.

"The march will be held on Tuesday. Social activist Rajan Ghate, who is on an indefinite hunger-strike, will lead the march to Parrikar's residence in Dona Paula. The march will be attended by Goa NGOs, leading individuals and some political parties, including the Congress," organiser Aires Rodrigues, a city lawyer, told the media.

State Congress President Girish Chodankar confirmed his participation.

Ghate has been on a hunger strike for the past four days at the Panaji city square, demanding that Parrikar, who is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been unable to attend office for several months now, resigns from the post and hands over charge.

Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for nearly nine months.

He returned from New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence for any official event since.

Apart from the Opposition, which has been demanding his resignation for several months now, cabinet ministers from the ruling alliance conceded on Saturday that Parrikar's absence from office had brought the state administration to a standstill.

--IANS

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