Goa Assembly session cut down to three days due to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's poor health

Panaji: The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be curtailed to three days owing to ill health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital.

Parrikar, who is being treated at the Lilavati Hospital for a pancreatic ailment since 15 February, would not attend the session, said BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the hospital to enquire about Parrikar's health. "The prime minister was in the hospital for 15 minutes in the evening. He was accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," a BJP source told PTI.

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Earlier on Sunday, the hospital authorities said Parrikar is "responding well to treatment". "It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health," a hospital statement read.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation in view of Parrikar's ill-health.

The budget session will begin on Monday with Governor Mridula Sinha's address. It was scheduled to end in mid-March, but now it would end in three days owing to Parrikar's illness, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo said.

File image of Manohar Parrikar. PTI

The state budget, scheduled for 22 February, will now be presented on 20 February, the deputy speaker said, adding that the Business Advisory Committee will meet on Monday afternoon to take a formal decision on cutting the session short. "The questions, which were supposed to be discussed in the current session, would be postponed to the next session," Lobo said.

Legislature sources said minister Sudin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will table the budget as Parrikar, who holds the finance portfolio, will not be able to attend the session. "On the advice of his doctors, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will be continuing with the treatment for (the ailment of) pancreas in Mumbai," BJP MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar told reporters.

The chief minister was responding to the treatment but he needed "sufficient time to recover and be focused on the treatment", he added. "Expert doctors are taking a good care of him," the MP said.

Main Opposition Congress said it had no objection to the curtailment of the session. "We have no objection if the Assembly is curtailed to three days as the chief minister is genuinely ill," said Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, who is also a member of the Business Advisory Committee.

The BJP's Goa legislature wing will be holding a special meeting on Monday morning before the start of the session to decide who will be its leader in the House in Parrikar's absence. Party sources said Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik would also attend the meeting.

Parrikar underwent a check-up at the Goa Medical College Hospital on 14 February after he complained of stomach pains. The next morning, he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, where the doctors said he was suffering from a "mild pancreatitis".