It's Official. Manohar Parrikar Will Be Back As Goa Chief Minister Tomorrow

Panaji: Manohar Parrikar will take oath as Goa Chief Minister for the fourth time tomorrow. He declared today that he has resigned from PM Narendra Modi's council of ministers to go back to Goa as its Chief Minister. The incumbent BJP with 13 seats claims to have support of eight other legislators needed to cross the magic mark. Mr Parrikar will have to prove his majority in the assembly within 15 days of swearing in. He will also have to get elected to the state legislature within six months.

For most of the 28 months that he has been the country's Defence Minister, Mr Parrikar has often been called Goa's super chief minister, a reflection of the IIT-Bombay graduate's keen interest in the politics of the state.

Mr Parrikar, 61, had been Chief Minister for a little over two years in his third stint in that post, when he was pulled out of Goa in late 2014 to join PM Modi's cabinet.

Mr Parrikar together with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari held a long meeting on Sunday evening where the BJP efficiently collected the additional seven seats it needs from regional parties. Mr Parrikar then met with Governor Mridula Sinha to stake claim and was invited to form the government.

The BJP staked claim to form government despite placing second to the Congress which has won the most -17- but not enough to form the government - the target is 21.

The BJP legislators in Goa met on Sunday morning and unanimously said they want Mr Parrikar to head their government. The party's former ally the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party or MGP with three seats offered their support to the BJP on condition that Mr Parrikar will head the government.

Another regional party Goa Forward, which also won three seats, has provided its support in writing at the meeting on Sunday evening.

There are three independents who have been elected two of whom have promised support to the BJP, earning it the eight extra seats it needs for a majority.

The Congress has accused the BJP of "murdering the democracy".  

"Mr Parrikar did not even contest election...no one knows if he is popular among the people of Goa... this is murder of democracy in broad day light," said Congress' Priyanka Chaturvedi .

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in a tweet, said, the "BJP is stealing elections in Goa, Manipur. Party that comes second has no right to form government," he tweeted this morning.

Rejecting the Congress' claim, the BJP leader GVL Narsimha Rao said, "We secured 4 % more popular votes than the Congress, we also have legislative majority to form government."