The BJP’s central leadership is looking at reviving the old formula of appointing a ‘Cabinet Advisory Committee’ to sanction expenditure proposals on behalf of the chief minister, while Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment at a hospital at Delhi’s AIIMS sources in the state secretariat said.
A decision is likely to be taken as early as tonight or tomorrow morning, the sources informed. “The structure will be the same, only the dates of the notification will have to be changed,” a source said.
Earlier, during Parrikar’s four month absence from the state, while he was being treated for his pancreatic ailment between February and June, the Goa governor on the recommendation of the Chief Minister had appointed a three-member Cabinet Advisory Committee with one member each from the BJP, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward being appointed on the ‘recommendatory body’. The panel had the power to sanction expenditure of up to Rs 10 crore per file.
Each minister too had the power to sanction expenditure of Rs 2 crore, which they can’t in presence of the Chief Minister. The BJP would, however, need to find a replacement for its member on the CAC with senior most BJP leader Francis D’Souza also hospitalised at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York State.
The Chief Minister had initially expressed his inability to discharge his duties and had expressed his willingness to have his workload being transferred to other ministers.
However, political posturing and wrangling among coalition partners has put paid to such a move. For now scanned copies of files continue to be sent to the Chief Minister for his approval.
Several BJP legislators had also pitched for an ‘interim arrangement’ so that governance does not suffer in absence of chief minister Parrikar, but there is no consensus over who should be given additional responsibilities.
The Congress, meanwhile, continues to await an appointment with the Goa Governor with party president Girish Chodankar confirming that no appointment has yet been granted.
Party leader and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat told reporters that with 16 MLAs the Congress had more moral right to be in power than the BJP which in the current situation effectively only has 11 MLAs.
Another Congressman Reginaldo Lourenço claimed the current BJP-led government is in a minority, which was more than enough reason for the party to stake claim to form the government.
First Published: Sep 18, 2018 16:07 IST
Source: HindustanTimes