Goa Assembly session to be cut short due to Manohar Parrikar's illness

The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be curtailed to three days from the planned a-month-and-a-half because of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's illness, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo said yesterday

Manohar Parrikar

The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be curtailed to three days from the planned a-month-and-a-half because of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's illness, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo said yesterday.

Parrikar, who is being treated at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for a pancreatic ailment since February 15, will not attend the session, said BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar. The session will begin today with Governor Mridula Sinha's address. It was scheduled to end in mid-March, but now it will end in three days owing to Parrikar's illness, Lobo said.

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

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