In a clear indication that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is set to get a Cabinet berth at the Centre, the BJP Parliamentary Board in its meeting on Saturday approved his nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Parrikar will file his nomination papers in Lucknow on Sunday, top party sources told The Hindu in New Delhi.
Soon after the Board meeting, Mr. Parrikar, who is tipped to be the next Defence Minister in Sunday's cabinet expansion, resigned as Goa's Chief Minister.
Party sources indicted that the Board, meeting for the first time without Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in Varanasi,considered the name of Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar who has strong RSS credentials, as the next Chief Minister of Goa.
The meeting, chaired by party President Amit Shah, discussed the political situation in the state particularly the banner of revolt raised by Catholic leader and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza. Other names were also discussed including that of Assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar and Union Tourism Minister Shripad Naik.
Even as the BJP legislators are meeting in Goa to select a new candidate for the post of the Chief Minister, party general secretary in charge of Goa Rajiv Pratap Rudy has rushed to the state to meet MLAs. The party will announce the name of Mr. Parrikar's successor after the meeting is over and rebellion is contained.
Coming out of the hour-long Board meeting BJP general secretary J.P. Nadda told journalists that the party will do a formal briefing at 4 pm.
Among those who attended the Board meeting were Mr. Nadda, general secretary Ram Lal, Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Thavar Chand Gehlot and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, all of whom are members of the topmost decision-making body of the party.
In the first major expansion of the union cabinet, Mr. Modi is expected to include several new faces and reshuffle a couple of ministers to give wider State-wise representation.
