He said D'Souza was holding charge as a Chief Minister in the absence of Parrikar.
Later in the evening, D'Souza said that he would not give up his demand even in favour of a ‘consensus candidate'. “There is no issue of consensus. No one has approached me with consensus candidate. There are quite a number of BJP legislators who are supporting me. At least 12 (out of 21) legislators are with me,” he said.
“I am senior-most in the Cabinet. As per the hierarchy I am second. So when Parrikar vacates, I should be made the Chief Minister... If I am not sworn in as the Chief Minister I would not take oath as a minister.
I would remain as an MLA. I would not quit the party,” said D'Souza, who is expected to meet BJP observer Rajiv Pratap Rudy. “I would not like to work under a junior,” he said referring to Parsekar and speaker of legislative assembly Rajendra Arlekar.
Asked if his revolt would be embarrassing for the party, D'Souza said whether to be in the government or not was a matter of individual choice. Parrikar, meanwhile, said without naming D'Souza that “there were some seniors who were out of the country” and hence he could not meet them.
“I am meeting them tonight individually,” he said, adding that he had not heard about any dissidence from D'Souza's side. The Chief Minister admitted that more than one leader was in the reckoning for his successor.
“I am happy that there are three-four (possible) successors. Everyone used to say ‘who after Parrikar in (Goa) BJP'. Now the question has been answered.”
