Provide fitness certificate then resume work: Cong to Parrikar

The Congress met Friday Goa Governor Mridula Sinha and demanded her intervention to stop "collapse" of the administration in the BJP-ruled state in view of frequent absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and hospitalisation of his two Cabinet colleagues.

The main Opposition party said Parrikar should provide a fitness certificate before joining work. The party said while the nature of CM's illness is not known, two other ministers are in hospitals with "serious" ailments.

Parrikar returned home Thursday from the US, where he had gone for medical treatment in the last week of August.

The 62-year-old was earlier in the US for nearly three months for treatment. While there has been no official word on the nature of his illness, it is said he is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment.

A delegation headed by All India Congress Committee secretary A Chellakumar, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar, Congress Legislature Party chief Chandrakant Kavlekar and other leaders met Sinha in the afternoon at Raj Bhavan here.

Emerging from the meeting, Chellakumar said there has been a "total collapse" of government in the state, where a BJP-led coalition is in power.

In such a situation, the governor is expected to intervene and restore normalcy in functioning of the state administration, he said.

Chellakumar said the CM has been frequently flying to the USA for treatment, but the exact nature of his illness has not been disclosed to the public by the state government.

Two other ministers Pandurang Madkaikar and Francis DSouza are admitted in hospitals with "serious" ailments, the Congress leader said.

While D'Souza is undergoing treatment in the US, Madkaikar has been admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai.

Chodankar said the Congress had earlier submitted two memorandums on April 16, 2018 and May 9, 2018 asking the governor to intervene, but she did not take any step.

The state Congress chief demanded that Parrikar provide a fitness certificate before resuming work.

Chodankar said there is "complete collapse" of the administration due to frequent absence of the chief minister from the state.

"When the chief minister was away (in the US), he did not find it necessary to even hand over acting charge of the ministries held by him to any of his cabinet colleagues.

"This act is not only unprecedented but also autocratic and undemocratic which has led to complete collapse of the state's administration," the GPCC chief said.

The Congress leader said when Parrikar was undergoing treatment in New York, officers were deputed to take files there to obtain his signatures.

In the prevailing circumstance, the governor, as the repository of the executive powers of the state, should intervene and restore normalcy in the administration, said Chodankar.