Parrikar to continue, says Dhavalikar; Sardesai claims BJP looking at successor

Manohar Parrikar will continue as the Goa chief minister, Sudin Dhavalikar, leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), a BJP ally in the coastal state, said Thursday after meeting the high-command of the saffron party in Delhi.

However, another ally, Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) who also met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah separately, claimed that the saffron party was "looking at who will succeed Parrikar".

Parrikar returned to Goa on October 14 after being treated for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi for about a month.

With Parrikar ailing, Shah had called Dhavalikar and Sardesai for separate meetings.

On his return to the coastal state, Dhavalikar told reporters that it was decided at the meeting that "the chief minister will continue in the chair. He (Parrikar) will rule till he is there".

It was also decided at the meeting that Parrikar will give some additional portfolios to other members of the cabinet, he said.

Dhavalikar, the state PWD minister, told the BJP leaders that they should "give credit" to the alliance partners, which would help the saffron party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Goa, he told reporters.

"If they care for the alliance partners, they will definitely win with a good margin," the MGP leader said.

However, Town and Country Planning Minister Sardesai, who also met Shah, said the BJP was looking at "who will succeed Parrikar and there is a serious discussion on it".

"The coalition which we had cobbled for Parrikar will continue," he added.

Asked who were the probable chief ministerial candidates, the GFP chief said, "There is no decision as yet, only some names were discussed."