Panaji: In a development which could embarrass the BJP on the eve of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s impending elevation to the Union cabinet, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza has threatened to quit the government if he was not made the chief minister.
D’Souza claims to have the backing of six BJP legislators, including at least three Catholic legislators and two independents. Since Friday morning, a section of the BJP’s Catholic legislators have been demanding that a Catholic be made the chief minister.
“I am chief ministerial material. I will not be reporting to my junior,” D’Souza, BJP’s Christian face in Goa, told reporters at the airport on his arrival from abroad.
Even as D’Souza threw his hat into the ring, there were indications that the BJP may plump for Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. The name of state Assembly Speaker Rajendra Arlekar was also doing the rounds as a successor to Parrikar. D’Souza’s claim to the post may throw a spanner in the proceedings on Saturday when the BJP Legislature Party in Goa meets to elect its new leader.
“I will not take oath if I am not made the Chief Minister. What future action I will take, I will decide after that,” D’Souza told a wire agency before going for the meeting of the state cabinet in the evening.
Earlier in the day, he told a TV channel that if he is denied the CM’s post, it will undermine BJP’s hold over the minority community.
Several BJP legislators, including Vishnu Wagh, Kiran Kandolkar, Carlose Almeida, Michael Lobo and Glenn Ticlo, have openly extended their support to D’Souza.
“It will send a great message to the rest of the country if the BJP decides to have a minority chief minister, especially with another round of state elections around the corner,” BJP legislator from Calangute, Michael Lobo, told the media.
The BJP “will be able to erase the communal tag once and for all”, Lobo said. Lobo was one of the 20 BJP legislators who met formally at the state assembly where Parrikar told them about his impending departure. Incidentally, only D’Souza was missing in the meeting.
