Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday dismissed media reports which quoted him as saying that he had resigned as defence minister owing to the pressure from problems like the situation in Kashmir. On Twitter, Parrikar said only local media and a few national publications had quoted him accurately.
Parrikar had held the post of defence minister from November 2014 until March 2016 when he was sworn in as Goa chief minister for the fourth time. “The pressure of the issues like Kashmir while working as defence minister in Delhi was one of the reasons why I chose to come back to Goa,” PTI had quoted the defence minister’s speech on the occasion of the 126th birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar on Friday.
He had specified that he seized the opportunity of returning to the coastal state. “I chose to come back to Goa when I got an opportunity to do so. When you are in the Centre, you have to tackle issues like Kashmir and others... Delhi is not my area of operations,” he had said.
Regarding Kashmir, Parrikar had said the region needs a long-term policy. “It is not so easy to solve the Kashmir issue... there are a few things, which need to be discussed less... There should be less discussion and more action..., because when you sit for discussion the issues get complicated,” he added.
Parrikar’s speech came a day before the Srinagar bye-poll results. Voting for the bye-poll was marred by violence on April 9. At least eight people died during clashes on Sunday when the first bye-poll was held for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Only 7.14% voters turned up to cast their votes. The violence had forced the Election Commission to order re-polling at 38 booths on April 13. However, Thursday’s re-polling saw an ever lower turnout of 2% only.
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