By Matters India Reporter
Panaji: The Catholic Church in Goa has urged its faithful to pray for the health of Manohar Parrikar, the chief minister of the western Indian coastal state.
Parrikar was on February 15 admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai for pancreas-related ailment.
In a statement issued on February 20, Archbishop Filip Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman asked his people to “pray for the fast recovery of our ailing chief minister.”
Catholics account for nearly one fourth of Goa’s 1.5 million people.
Meanwhile the Chief Minister’s Office and Lilavati Hospital have stated that the 62-year-old political leader has responded well to treatment.
Speculation over his health condition rose after he failed to attend the ongoing Budget Session of the state legislative assembly.
Goa Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo told reporters that the Prime Minister’s Office was constantly in touch with doctors at the Mumbai hospital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Parrikar at the hospital on February 18 evening.
BJP general secretary Narendra Sawaikar who represents South Goa in parliament, stated that the chief minister’s condition was stable. “He is being treated by the best of the experts,” he added.
Sawaikar also refuted the news that Parrikar was being flown to the United States for further treatment.
On February 19, journalist Harish Volvoikar was barred from entering the precincts of the Goa legislative assembly. Two days earlier, he had sent across a message about Parrikar’s ill-health and later retracted it. Volvoikar manages GoaJunction.com.