Goa Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has died at age 63 after fight with cancer

PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar died at his private residence near here on Sunday. He was 63.nnParrikar is survived by two sons and their families.nn”Chief Minister passed away around 6.40 pm Sunday,” a senior state government official told PTI.nnThe BJP stalwart’s health, which has been fluctuating for a year, took a turn for the worse in the past two days.nnIn a tweet, President Ram Nath Kovind said, “Extremely sorry to hear of the passing of Shri Manohar Parrikar, chief minister of Goa, after an illness borne with fortitude and dignity.nn”An epitome of integrity and dedication in public life, his service to the people of Goa and India will not be forgotten,” the President tweeted from his official handle.nnSources said former defence minister Parrikar had been on life support system since late Saturday night.nnParrikar had been unwell since February 2018 when he was diagnosed with a pancreatic ailment.nnWho was Manohar Parrikar?nnHe was born on 13th December, 1955. He was was the Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 till his death.nnPreviously he was Chief Minister of Goa from 2000 to 2005 and from 2012 to 2014.nnParrikar proposed the name of Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate before the 2013 BJP parliamentary elections convention in Goa, later he served in the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Defence Minister of India from 2014 to 2017. He was a former member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.nnHe died from pancreatic cancer on 17 March 2019.nnParrikar was born in Mapusa, Goa.He studied at Loyola High School, Margao.He completed his secondary education in Marathi and went on to graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay)[9] in 1978. He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2001.nnPolitical careernnParrikar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a young age and became a mukhya shikshak (chief instructor) in the final years of his schooling. After graduating from IIT, he resumed RSS work in Mapusa while maintaining a private business, and became a sanghchalak (local director) at the age of 26. He was active in the RSS’s North Goa unit, becoming a key organiser of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was seconded by RSS to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the objective of fighting the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.Parrikar has often expressed considerable pride in his RSS background, saying that he learnt “discipline, progressiveness,nationalism and social responsibility from the RSS”.nnHe is sometimes described as having been a pracharak of the RSS.[14] Often regarded as the CM of commons.nnAs a member of the BJP, Parrikar was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Goa in 1994. He was leader of the opposition from June to November 1999. He successfully contested the election to become Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure lasted only until 27 February 2002. On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and served another term as Chief Minister.nnOn 29 January 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the Assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House. Pratapsing Rane of the Indian National Congress would subsequently replace Parrikar as Chief Minister.nnIn 2007, the Parrikar led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Indian National Congress led by Digambar Kamat. His party became victorious once again after the BJP and their party-allies won twenty-four seats against the Indian National Congress’ nine in the Goa Assembly Elections held in March 2012. In the 2014 General Elections, BJP won both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.nnParrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November 2014, by his own admission but was persuaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the central government.He was succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar as Goa’s CM. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was a player in the state politics.nnIn November 2014, Parrikar was chosen as the Minister of Defence replacing Arun Jaitley, who, till then, held the additional charge of the Ministry.[14][18] His entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party’s candidate for the elected Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.[17] He has since been credited with transparent, efficient and fast decision making in what was till then thought of as a sluggish ministry. He has also opened up several investigations into alleged scams like Augusta Westland Chopper scam.nnOn March 14, 2017, Parrikar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Goa. Goa Forward Party led by Vijai Sardesai, one of the parties who allied with BJP in Goa after election results were announced, had said that it would extend support to the BJP only if Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was brought back to the state as Chief Minister.nnPersonal lifennFamilynHis wife Medha died in 2001.They have two sons.nnIllness and deathnnAs of March?June 2018, Parrikar was undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at a hospital in the US. He returned to India and in September was admitted in the AIIMS, Delhi for treatment.[32] On 27 October 2018 the Goa government announced that CM Manohar Parrikar has pancreatic cancer.[33]nnHe passed away on 17 March 2019 at the age of 63 years, due to advanced pancreatic cancer at his residence in Panaji.His death was announced by the president of India, Ram Nath Kovind.