Panaji: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), an ally of the ruling BJP in Goa, demanded on Wednesday that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hand over his charge to "any of the senior ministers" till he recovered from illness.
A statement issued by the MGP in this regard comes even as Goa Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Vinay Tendulkar has maintained that there will be no change in leadership in the coastal state.
Parrikar, 62, is not keeping well for the last few months. He is currently recuperating at his home here since he was discharged from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.
MGP president Dipak Dhavalikar said the people of Goa were complaining that the state administration had collapsed due to the long absence of the chief minister from office.
"Since he (Parrikar) is recuperating at home, he should hand over the charge to any of the senior ministers till he recovers," Dhavalikar said here.
He added that the patience of the people was running out and they wanted a solution to the current "crisis".
"Every day, we have to pacify people who come to our doorstep complaining that the state administration has collapsed. What shall we tell them?" Dhavalikar asked.
He said his party would have to take "further decisions" if Parrikar did not hand over the charge to a senior minister within a month.
"The MGP's central committee will meet and discuss the situation, before taking any further decision. We will wait for a month for the chief minister to hand over the charge," Dhavalikar said.
The MGP is Goa's oldest regional party.
Dhavalikar had last month said it was high time Parrikar handed over charge to the seniormost minister in his cabinet during his absence from office.
Another ally of the BJP in the state, the Goa Forward Party (GFP), had also claimed last week that Parrikar's ailment was affecting his work and that of the state administration.
Meanwhile, Dhavalikar said the MGP was mulling to move the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court against frequent mid-term switchovers by MLAs from one party to another.
"We will plead that a law should be enacted to make it illegal for an MLA to switch over to any other party mid-term. The frequent bypolls are straining government resources, which is the taxpayers' money," he said.
Notably, two Congress MLAs had last week resigned as members of the state Assembly and from the party, reducing its strength from 16 to 14 in the 40-member House.
The Parrikar-led government has the support of 23 MLAs in the Assembly - 14 of the BJP, three each from the GFP and the MGP and three Independent legislators.
The Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the fractured verdict thrown up after the Assembly election in March last year.
However, it had failed to form the government as it could not muster the majority. Since then, the Congress is repeatedly claiming to form the government in the coastal state, arguing that it is the single-largest party.
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