Gadkari arrives in Panaji for BJP legislature meet
Union minister Nitin Gadkari arrived in Goa in the early hours of Monday by a midnight flight to decide on the leadership issue in the state following the demise of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Parrikar (63) died on Sunday evening at his residence near here after battling pancreatic cancer for over a year.
Gadkari, who had successfully managed to cobble together a coalition in the state under the leadership of Parrikar in 2017, will be holding discussions with the BJP Goa legislature wing during the night.
The senior leader is also scheduled to meet alliance partners, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa Forward Party and Independents, who had given support to the Parrikar-led government.
"The new chief minister will be sworn in by tomorrow morning," a senior BJP functionary said.
Asked if they would continue to support the BJP, the alliance partners said "no one should not be taken for granted" as their support was to Parrikar when the government was formed in 2017.
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