PANAJI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today staked claim to form the next government in Goa with the support of the NCP, smaller outfits and Independents.The saffron party has announced that Manohar Parrikar will be the Chief Minister of the coalition government. Parrikar, who is currently working as the Defence Minister, will resign from the post before taking oath as the Goa CM.Union minister and the BJP's election in-charge for Goa, Nitin Gadkari said, "Parrikar will resign as the Defence Minister before taking oath as Chief Minister of Goa. "We are supporting BJP to have stability in the government. "We have given the letter of support to the BJP only because of Parrikar. Without him, we would not have supported the BJP to form the next government," he said.State party unit chief Vinay Tendulkar said, "The BJP Central leadership has agreed on Parrikar to head the BJP legislature wing following which the decision to stake claim to form government was taken."

Source: Economic Times March 12, 2017 14:23 UTC