Panaji: The untimely death of Goa CM Manohar Parrikar has precipitated a political upheaval in the coastal state. The pertinent question looming in the region is about who will take over the chief minister’s post. Congress MLA and former CM Digambar Kamat became the cynosure of media attention as he left for Delhi Sunday morning and BJP leaders claiming he is all set to switch sides, making him the front-runner to become the next chief minister.

By evening, Kamat sought to clear the air and dismiss rumours that were swirling, by saying the "news about my entry in BJP is being planted by vested interests, it is bogus. I will return to Goa tonight & attend the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Monday. I had gone to Delhi for personal work."

Goa Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo was the first to claim that Kamat will join the saffron party.

"Digambar (Kamat) has gone to Delhi to join the BJP. He has no other business there," Lobo said.

Another BJP MLA said Kamat, who like Parrikar belonged to the influential Gaur Saraswat Brahmin caste, could be the front-runner for chief ministership if he decided to make the political switch as there was no clear candidate in the BJP ranks to succeed Parrikar.

"Our party is in talks with Kamat. But his exit from the Congress has not been finalised yet. He has worked with the BJP leadership before and the transition should not be an issue," the BJP MLA said.

At the BJP legislators' meeting, the suggestion to induct Kamat was met with mixed response, with some opposing and others supporting it.

However, Congress leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said Kamat was a senior member of the party and had sought permission before leaving for Delhi on a private visit.

"There is no doubt about Kamat's commitment to the party. He will stay with the Congress," Kavlekar said.

The Goa BJP is scouting for successor to Parrikar who succumbed to advanced pancreatic cancer this evening

Kamat once served as a Minister in the Parrikar-led cabinet in 2000, but he quit the party subsequently to join the Congress, claiming that he was feeling suffocated in the BJP.

In 2007, he served as the Chief Minister of a Congress-led coalition government. Kamat is also being probed in the multi-million dollar illegal mining scam as well as the Louis Berger consultancy scam, in which a former Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao has already been arrested.

(With additional information from IANS)