Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Tuesday, the first day of 2019 , made a surprise visit to the State Secretariat at Porvorim near here for the first time in months. Mr. Parrikar was received by Ministers, party MLAs and several BJP workers.
The 63-year-old Chief Minister was accompanied by a team of medical professionals and staff from the Chief Minister’s Office, when he entered the Secretariat at 10:30 in the morning. Mr. Parrikar was helped up the stairs of the Secretariat by his aides, in presence of Speaker Pramod Sawant and other BJP leaders.
This is the second appearance of ailing Chief Minister in public in the last few months. Last month he visited the under-construction third bridge on river Mandovi near here in similar state.
This happens to be his first visit to the Secretariat since his return from New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14, last year.
BJP's Goa general secretary, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, who was present along with party cadre, said that the visit will boost the enthusiasm of the BJP cadre as well as the people of Goa.
“This is a good development. Seeing our Chief Minister will boost our cadre,” Mr. Tanavade remarked as he spoke to press persons.
He later said that the Chief Minister held a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and officials to review work and gave instructions.
Mr. Parrikar is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and was diagnosed in February last year. He has been presently taking treatment at his private residence near here after medical treatment in hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, US and Delhi since February.
Opposition has been demanding that he resign or handover charge to a Minister of Cabinet rank till he recovers, insisting that his operating from his private residence has led to the collapse of State administration.
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