Manohar Parrikar

PANAJI: Chief minister Manohar Parrikar will leave for the US on Thursday for a medical check-up. “The CM is going for seven days,” BJP spokesperson Nilesh Cabral said at a press conference. “He will be in contact with the chief secretary from the US.”

Parrikar had earlier undergone medical treatment in the US after he fell ill in February. During his absence then, a three-member cabinet advisory committee (CAC) was constituted.

Since this time his absence will be for a short period, no such arrangement has been made. “The CM will issue directions through phone calls,” Cabral said at a press conference, responding to a query on who will be in charge while Parrikar is out.

Cabral stressed that the “CM is not ill” and that he’s only going for a check-up. “Did you see him speak in the assembly?” he said. “How robust he sounded.”

Meanwhile, PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, who was absent on most days of the recently concluded monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly , has resumed his public duties. “He has started clearing files,” a source said.

Another cabinet member, urban development Francis D’Souza, who has been ill for a while and was hospitalised during the monsoon session of the assembly, has left for Mumbai, a source said.

