Goa power minister rules out change of Manohar Parrikar's leadership

In yet another flip-flop over the issue of leadership change in Goa, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral on Friday ruled out any alternative succeeding Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The Minister also said that his cabinet colleague and Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai's discussion with BJP President Amit Shah on Thursday about finding alternatives to Parrikar was only borne out of "personal interest".

"It is a statement from his (Sardesai) personal interest. I am speaking for the BJP party and BJP party has a leader... We have a leader in Parrikar and he will always be our leader," Cabral told the media at the state Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters.

On Thursday, after a meeting with Amit Shah, Sardesai had said that they had discussed leadership alternatives to Parrikar, who has been ailing for more than eight months now.

"BJP leadership is seriously looking at the leadership issues and I have explained to him (Shah) the aspirations of the Goan people... There are some names that are being discussed," Sardesai had said.

Cabral said it was wrong to suggest that Parrikar, who is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi, was not active vis a vis his duties as a Chief Minister.

The Minister, however, conceded that Parrikar was now inaccessible to the people of Goa, on account of his illness.

"Accessibility to the people is not there, which you also know very well. When I am not well, accessibility is (also) a problem," Cabral said, adding that the issue of accessibility can be resolved by keeping in touch with people online.