Goa BJP ally warns against Assembly dissolution as CM ails

Goa Forward Party President and Agriculture Minister Vijai Desai on Monay warned against dissolution of the Assembly even as the state Chief Minister is fighting a serious illness.

Goa Forward Party is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the state government.

Sardesai asked the BJP's central leadership, including party President Amit Shah, to

"keep their word" and ensure continuance of the coalition government in Goa and not go in for dissolution of the Assembly.

Sardesai's comments assume significance as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar remains seriously ill, plunging the state into political uncertainty.

"People of Goa are watching them because national parties need to keep their word. If they don't keep their word, people don't trust them. Now the onus is on them and they will have to fulfil their commitment to ensure that this government completes its term and gets the continued support of the central government," Sardesai said in a video statement issued here on Monday.

The BJP is ruling the state in alliance with Goa Forward Party, and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.

"The BJP national president Amit Shah has assured me that the BJP national leadership is not interested to have a mid-term poll or to dissolve the House. As such, when our commitment is there, and their commitment is also there, the onus of this government continuing for the full five-year term now lies with the BJP central leadership," he said.

Parrikar arrived in Goa on Sunday after being discharged from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where he was being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer since September 15.

Parrikar, a former Union Defence Minister, was ferried in an ambulance from the airport and was taken inside his residence on a stretcher.

Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi for the last seven months.

--IANS

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