Unsure when Parrikar will return: Goa Health Minister

Goa's Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday said he was unsure of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's return to the state even as he insisted that Parrikar was in the "best hands of the world".

Addressing a press conference at the BJP state headquarters here, Rane said the state government was stable and that at least two Congress MLAs were in touch with the BJP, with the possibility of them joining soon.

"I feel he will come as soon as he finishes his treatment... But nobody knows the actual date of his return. I think we should give him that exemption," Rane told reporters.

"He is undergoing treatment. He is in the best hands of the world. Doctors are very happy with his progress and I think we should just leave it at that. Let him come back fine," Rane said.

Parrikar is undergoing advanced treatment for pancreatic cancer in a New York hospital. He was shifted to the US in March, a month after he was first admitted for stomach pain in Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.

BJP state President Vinay Tendulkar last month said Parrikar would be returning to Goa by the end of May. But Rane and BJP's South Goa MP insisted that the exact time of Parrikar's return to Goa was not known yet.

--IANS

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