PANAJI: Former defence minister of India and current Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar died on Sunday evening just over a year after he was detected with cancer. He was 63.
Hours earlier, Parrikar’s office had tweeted that his condition was “extremely critical” and “doctors are trying their best”.
Parrikar was suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer and had been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and New Delhi over the past year.
Often described as Goa’s tallest leader in decades, Parrikar was the first BJP chief minister of the picturesque coastal state back in 2000. When he resigned as the Union Defence Minister and took charge of the state in May 2017, it was the fourth time that he was sworn to the CM’s office. He never did get an opportunity to govern the state for the assembly’s full term of five years.
His last term as chief minister was cut short when he was given the Defence Ministry portfolio in November 2014. Parrikar was jubilant when he got an opportunity to head back home a little over two years later. He had for weeks been talking about how had missed Goan food in Delhi.
This time, his death cut short his tenure.
