Articulating reasons for his reservations on moving to the Centre, Mr. Parrikar (59) said he had been elected for a five-year term with a popular mandate in March 2012 and felt it was not right to move out unless the term was completed. However, now that the party had assigned him the new task, he had to accept it.
“For me the country comes first. If everyone starts superimposing his own wish everywhere, it is not appropriate. The country is bigger than the State. The needs of the nation have to be taken into account,” he said.
Sources close to Mr. Parrikar, earlier in the day, said he tried to tell the party that he would prefer to stay put in the State. He then even suggested to the party to give him some time. The pressure was definitely on him right from the beginning to join the Modi government but he tried to persuade the Prime Minister to allow him to continue in Goa for sometime.
With the Defence Ministry saddled with a large number of disputed contracts and issues like kickbacks, the Prime Minister wanted someone with integrity and a person who has “intelligence and proven administrative abilities.”
Mr. Parrikar is said to fit the bill with his administrative abilities and clean image, given that major defence modernisation programmes are under way, and defence procurements have had a bad press in the recent past.
On Thursday he had a send-off meeting with his office staff. On Friday, he is expected to hold his last Cabinet meeting preceded by a meeting of the BJP Legislature Party where his successor will be chosen. He is expected to resign on Friday once he gets the formal offer.
After his successor takes oath on Saturday, Mr. Parrikar will leave for New Delhi for his induction scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m.
