Manohar Parrikar, Headed to Delhi, to Resign Today as Goa Chief Minister

Panaji, Goa: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has said he will resign on Saturday and a new chief minister will take oath the same day. He is headed to Delhi and is tipped to become Defence Minister in an expansion of the Narendra Modi cabinet likely on Sunday.

Mr Parrikar said this morning that he will brief Goa's 21 BJP legislators about the fast-paced developments of the last few days at a meeting now on. The process of electing his successor and his swearing in would happen after 12 pm on Saturday, he said.

The top contenders to replace Mr Parrikar are Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza, the state's Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and the state's Speaker Rajendra Arlekar. The party's central leaders BS Yeddyurappa and Rajiv Pratap Rudy will be in Goa tomorrow as observers at the meeting to elect the new Chief Minister.

Manohar Parrikar, 58, is expected to take over in Delhi from Arun Jaitley, who has held dual charge of two critical portfolios Finance and Defence, for the five months since the Narendra Modi cabinet took oath in May this year.

To be a central minister he has to be a member of Parliament. A Goa minister said today that the party could nominate Mr Parrikar to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

"I give you a guarantee that if I do get the Defence Ministry, I will be clean, transparent and open. On November 9, I will complete 20 years in politics, without a single stain or allegation against me," Mr Parrikar told NDTV on Thursday evening.

He said he had not been officially informed what ministry he would be allotted. However, he did confirm that he got a call from BJP president Amit Shah. "He told me to be ready as there was a possibility that I could move to the Centre," said Mr Parrikar, adding that he has never been too interested in national politics but had agreed as a disciplined party worker.

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Manohar Parrikar, Headed to Delhi, to Resign Today as Goa Chief Minister