For the first time since his discharge from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is battling pancreatic cancer, on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Investment Promotion Board at his private residence.
The chief minister has not been seen in public since he was discharged from AIIMS on October 14, sparking speculation about his health condition with the opposition Congress alleging that his signature was being forged on official files and demanding that the government release video proof of his health condition.
The move to host the meeting at his residence is seen as a bid to quell mounting speculation about the condition of his health.
Speaking to reporters after emerging from the meeting, minister of information technology Rohan Khaunte said that the chief minister was ‘very good’.
“His health is good. He has chaired the meeting effectively. We have held a one-on-one and a half-hour group meeting, that itself tells of the health status of the chief minister. He has given certain directions on what needs to be done, based on how we need to go about. These types of meetings will be held continuously ,” Khaunte said.
“We have complained (to the police) that there is apprehension that somebody is forging his signatures. We have only made known our apprehensions about a crime that can happen. The file goes (to the CM’s office), Krishnamurthy (principal secretary to the chief minister) says, ‘I have spoken to the CM and he has approved the files.’ We do not know whether this is authentic,” Said Congress legislator Reginaldo Lourenço.
The chief minister is expected to similarly chair a meeting of the state cabinet on Wednesday, the first since August.
Earlier, the chief minister chaired a meeting of Goa’s Investment Promotion Board via video conferencing. However, a suspicious Congress demanded that the government release the video clip showing whether the chief minister really chaired the meeting via video conferencing.
The Congress demand is believed to have prompted the chief minister to summon the members of the board to his residence to hold the meeting.
Earlier, too, the Congress had demanded the state government ‘prove’ that the chief minister is recovering as state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar claimed he was.
“With today’s technology, it is not difficult. Let them show us how he is walking and talking,” Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu had said.
Last week, Tendulkar had claimed that Parrikar would resume office in the first week of November.
HT
