Parrikar stable now, not on life-support: Ministers

Panaji, March 16 (IANS) Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's health condition has been fluctuating for several days and had only briefly worsened on Saturday morning, Union Minister Shripad Naik said.

Parrikar's health was "stable" now and all other information was just rumours, he told media persons here.

"These are just rumours. His health has been witnessing ups and downs for the last several days. Today too, the same thing had happened for some time, but he is stable now. There is no problem as such," Naik said.

Earlier on Saturday, the Chief Minister's Office issued a statement that the health of Parrikar, who is being treated at his private residence for advanced pancreatic cancer, was "stable", after media reports said that his health conditions had worsened.

Sources, requesting anonymity, told IANS that Parrikar's blood pressure had dropped considerably on Saturday morning.

Parrikar, diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in February 2018, and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York since.

State Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai, who heads the Goa Forward Party, also said that Parrikar's condition had deteriorated but he was "stable now" and he was not on life support.

Sardesai, who visited Parrikar's private residence with five legislators (four from the ruling dispensation and an Independent), also indicated that the six were fully committed to the current dispensation, but only with Parrikar at the helm.

"When the cancer was detected and when the CM had shown willingness that he would step down, even then six of us wanted a permanent solution and stability for Goa. Even now, when the CM's health has deteriorated, even now we are with him. He is stable, but what is the term in medical science I am not aware," he told reporters outside Parrikar's residence.

Asked to specify the exact condition, Sardesai said: "He is not on life support. If you ask politicians about which medical terms to use, then I am making myself open to so many interpretations. It is not right. We have to respect his privacy".

Asked if the time had come, in view of Parrikar's failing health, for a change of leadership in the BJP-led coalition government, he said: "See, whether the time is come for a new legislature party leader of BJP, it is for the BJP to decide. It is not for us to decide".

Until six months ago, Sardesai and his group of MLAs had been demanding a "permanent solution" to the crisis which had arisen following Parrikar's prolonged health condition.

However, on Saturday, he insisted that the support of the group was only to a Parrikar-led dispensation, while dubbing questions about its position in the absence of Parrikar as hypothetical.

"We have been with Manohar Parrikar unequivocally. We are with him now. He is the Chief Minister. Ifs and buts we will not discuss. We will not discuss hypothetical situations. As and when we come to that we will take a decision. But we (six MLAs) will be together," Sardesai said.

While the coalition was being cobbled together in 2017, Sardesai, along with other coalition partners, had given a written undertaking to Governor Mridula Sinha that they would be part of the government only if Parrikar heads it.