Goa Chief Minister and Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Dies at 63

Former Defence Minister and Goa incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who had gone to the United States last year after being diagnosed with a Pancreatic ailment, breathed his last on 17 March. Manohar Parrikar passed away at his son’s home in Panaji, Goa. He was 63-year old.

Parrikar had been in the headlines for several months due to his fluctuating health condition. His condition was deteriorated on Saturday morning. He had been admitted in Hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, and New York over a period of one year but he could not win the battle against Pancreatic ailment.

It is to be noted that Parrikar was three-time Chief Minister, he had earlier this year said that he will serve Goa till his last breath. Parrikar was recently seen with a tube in his nose.

While presenting the state budget of the Goa assembly in January 2019, he made up for his weakened delivery with rousing words: “Present circumstances have prevented me from delivering a detailed budget speech, but there is a josh that is too high, very high and I am in hosh. Fully in hosh.”

Parrikar had also inaugurated a bridge in Goa earlier this year where he drew loud cheers after he delivered the punchline – “how’s the josh?” – from the blockbuster “Uri: The Surgical Strike”.

He was the Defence Minister in 2016 at a time when India conducted a surgical strike on the line of control following a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri.

Parrikar headed a coalition government, which is lead by the Goa Forward Party (GFP), the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP), and three Independent lawmakers in Goa. His death leaves the state in a crisis, as the Congress has written to the Goa Governor to dismiss the “minority” government and to invite them to form the government.