Gadkari arrives in Panaji for BJP legislature meet
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Panaji: 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.
Parrikar, who was the then Union defence minister, had taken over the reigns of the state after the BJP failed to get a majority in the 2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election.
"No one can be taken for granted. But we all want this government to survive. No one can afford the dissolution of the assembly or keeping the House in suspended animation," Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai told reporters here Sunday evening after a meeting that was attended by leaders of his party, the MGP and Independents.
Sardesai said the alliance partners will take a stand only after the BJP legislative party decides its leader.
BJP MLA Michael Lobo asserted that the next chief minister has to be from the BJP. "The next CM will have to be amongst BJP MLAs," he said.
MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar, however, said nothing was finalised and a decision on leadership would be taken only after meeting Gadkari.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Sunday evening wrote a fresh letter to state Governor Mridula Sinha, staking claim to form the government.
Stating that it is the single largest party in the state, the Congress said it should be invited by the governor to form the government.
The Congress is currently the single largest party in the state with 14 MLAs, while the BJP has 12 in the 40-member Goa assembly. The Goa Forward Party, MGP and Independents have three MLAs each, while the NCP has one legislator.
The strength of the House has been reduced to 36 due to the demise of BJP MLA Francis D'Souza earlier this year, and Parrikar on Sunday, and the resignations of two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte last year.
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Ishan Kishan''s fifty powers SRH to 201/9 against RCB
Bengaluru (PTI): Stand-in-captain Ishan Kishan smashed a blazing fifty as Sunrisers Hyderabad resisted Jacob Duffy's excellent spell but only managed a slightly below-par 201 for nine against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2026 season-opener here on Saturday.
Kishan (80, 38b, 8x4, 5x6) and his 97-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen (31) for the fourth wicket was the core of SRH innings.
But the match had a rather different start once RCB skipper Rajat Patidar asked Hyderabad to bat first on a pitch that was deprived of top-flight cricket for nearly 10 months.
The pitch would have been a rather unknown commodity and chasing was a better option in that context.
Duffy’s spell (4-0-22-3) vindicated that thought too. The Kiwi pacer used his height well to generate considerable bounce off the track and Abhishek Sharma (7) looked frustrated not being able to free his arm despite carving Duffy for a six over backward point.
The left-hander, who has always been uncomfortable against short ball, soon fell to his frustrations as his awkward pull off Duffy ended in the big gloves of Jitesh Sharma.
Earlier, RCB had burned a DRS review for caught behind appeal against Abhishek off Duffy in the very first over.
Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy too failed to control their pull shots off Duffy as SRH slipped to 29 for three in 4.2 overs, and the visitors ended the Power Play at 49 for three.
But Kishan was never really bogged down by the situation or opposition, batting with oodles of bravado.
The left-hander brought up his fifty in 27 balls with a four off leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, and his blitz contained some sparkling hits.
Abhinandan Singh bore the brunt his wrath, as Kishan carted him for 6, 4, 6 and later spinner Krunal Pandya was hammered for two sixes in an over.
A mighty blow over third man off Abhinandan carried Kishan to 80, and century was there for his taking.
But the pacer had the last laugh as Kishan fell to a stunning one-handed, diving catch by Phil Salt near deep backward point.
This could definitely be high on the list of season’s best catches.
Kishan’s dismissal robbed SRH some steam in the death overs, despite Aniket Verma (43, 19 balls), who was dropped by Virat Kohli on 26 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, striking a handy knock down the order. Still the Hyderabad outfit could only make 59 runs in the last five overs.
