Manohar Parrikar said Goa's Chief Minister should be "young at heart", even if slightly "elder."
Panaji:
Amid all the Manohar-Parrikar-for-Goa hints from senior BJP leaders, here comes a broad one from the man himself. The Defence Minister today said Goa's Chief Minister should be "young at heart", even if slightly "elder." At 61, he fits the bill.
Mr Parrikar was speaking at a youth convention at capital Panaji, when he said, "Though there is a requirement of youth to be the Chief Minister, I feel that the Chief Minister can be a slightly elder person who can understand the aspirations of youth." Whatever the age, the Chief Minister must be young at heart, said the minister in response to a question from a young voter.
Goa will vote on February 4 for a new government and Mr Parrikar has in recent days mostly been parked in his home state, where his party the BJP hopes to be re-elected. The presence of Mr Parrikar, a former Chief Minister of the state, in Goa is seen as important before the election and, BJP chief Amit Shah said yesterday, after the elections too.
Mr Shah said at a public meeting that the next government in the state would "function under Parrikar's leadership, irrespective of his posting."
There was, the BJP chief said, a "huge demand for Parrikar in Delhi and also here in Goa. The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to the state...but Narendrabhai needs him at the centre as well. We will decide after elections where Parrikar will be working."
The BJP clearly hopes to keep the voter engaged with such remarks; Manohar Parrikar is the party's tallest leader in Goa and became Chief Minister, his third term, after the party won the last elections in 2012. But less than halfway into his term he was called up for duty as Defence Minister in the Narendra Modi government. He handpicked his replacement in Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar, but is rumoured to call the shots on key decisions in the state.
Speculation that he could return was sparked by senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari saying earlier this month that while newly elected legislators would choose their leader if the BJP returns to power in Goa, they could choose from someone among them or someone "sent from the centre."
Mr Parrikar was speaking at a youth convention at capital Panaji, when he said, "Though there is a requirement of youth to be the Chief Minister, I feel that the Chief Minister can be a slightly elder person who can understand the aspirations of youth." Whatever the age, the Chief Minister must be young at heart, said the minister in response to a question from a young voter.
Goa will vote on February 4 for a new government and Mr Parrikar has in recent days mostly been parked in his home state, where his party the BJP hopes to be re-elected. The presence of Mr Parrikar, a former Chief Minister of the state, in Goa is seen as important before the election and, BJP chief Amit Shah said yesterday, after the elections too.
Mr Shah said at a public meeting that the next government in the state would "function under Parrikar's leadership, irrespective of his posting."
There was, the BJP chief said, a "huge demand for Parrikar in Delhi and also here in Goa. The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to the state...but Narendrabhai needs him at the centre as well. We will decide after elections where Parrikar will be working."
The BJP clearly hopes to keep the voter engaged with such remarks; Manohar Parrikar is the party's tallest leader in Goa and became Chief Minister, his third term, after the party won the last elections in 2012. But less than halfway into his term he was called up for duty as Defence Minister in the Narendra Modi government. He handpicked his replacement in Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar, but is rumoured to call the shots on key decisions in the state.
Speculation that he could return was sparked by senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari saying earlier this month that while newly elected legislators would choose their leader if the BJP returns to power in Goa, they could choose from someone among them or someone "sent from the centre."
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