Goa > Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant today met Governor Mridula Sinha here over the situation arising out of the ill-health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The governor would be addressing the Budget Session of the Assembly at 11.30 am on the opening day tomorrow. "The session will start from tomorrow. Chief minister Parrikar would not be able to remain present for the first day of the session,” Sawant told after meeting the governor.
Parrikar is being treated at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for pancreatitis since February 15. Sawant said the session was initially planned for 22 working days. "But the chief minister won't be able to attend the entire session, so we have called for a revised business advisory committee meeting (tomorrow) about curtailing the session," he said. In the absence of the chief minister, Sawant said, the governor would be received at the Assembly complex by Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader and minister Sudin Dhavalikar upon her arrival.
When asked who would present the budget -- Parrikar also handles the finance portfolio -- Sawant said they are waiting for updates on Parrikar's health before taking a decision on it. Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo had, earlier in the day, said that the session would be curtailed to three days, during which the budget would be presented and vote-on-account would be passed. Legislature sources had said that Dhavalikar will table the budget. "On the advice of his doctors, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will be continuing with the treatment for (ailment of) pancreas in Mumbai," BJP MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar had told reporters.
The chief minister was responding to the treatment but he needs "sufficient time to recover and be focused on the treatment", Sawaikar had said. The BJP's Goa legislature wing will be holding a special meeting tomorrow morning before the beginning of the session to decide who will be its leader in the House in Parrikar's absence. Parrikar underwent a check-up at the Goa Medical College Hospital on February 14 for stomachache; the next morning he was admitted in Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, where doctors said he was suffering from "mild pancreatitis"
