Congress: CM absent, key ministers sick, dismiss Goa government

Citing instances of chronic illnesses plaguing Goa's cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, opposition Congress on Monday urged the Governor to dismiss the BJP-led coalition, alleging the administration has collapsed.

"There is no government in existence. We demand the Governor dismiss the government," Congress spokesperson Ramakant Khalap told a press conference in Panaji.

Khalap said three cabinet ministers, including Parrikar, were suffering from serious ailments, oversee portfolios which account for nearly 80 per cent of the budgetary allocations. Their absence on health grounds has brought the administration to a standstill, Khalap added.

"Several ministers have also fallen ill. One has been shifted to America to the same hospital where the Chief Minister is getting treatment and the other (Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar) is in Mumbai," Khalap said.

"THe Chief Minister had taken over the portfolios of Madkaikar as well as Francis D'Souza (admitted to Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in US). Now when the CM is sick and is absent from the state, who would look after those portfolios?" Khalap asked.

"It was possible to have a deputy chief minister. The CM should have authorised not just one but many ministers to do the work," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said the party would approach Governor Dr Mridula Sinha for the dismissal of the incumbent government.