Less than a month before he celebrates his 59th birthday on December 13, the former Goa CM, Manohar Parrikar was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join his Cabinet on Sunday. He is also considered close to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. He was one of the first party functionary to openly bat for Narendra Modi in June 2013 as BJP’s ‘face’ for the 2014 General Elections.

“This is a great country,” Parrikar said. “You have to strengthen yourself in such a way that your opponent should feel fear to fight against you. Peace is always maintained by people who are strong, it can never be maintained by weak people.”

Outgoing Goa CM Manohar Parrikar hints at bolstering India’s defence forces:

Giving the first hint that he would get the Defence portfolio in Sunday’s Union Cabinet reshuffle — as speculated — outgoing Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said Saturday that bolstering India’s defence forces to put “fear” in the minds of those hostile to the country’s interests and discouraging them from engaging in any potential conflict would be top on his agenda in his new role.

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Shortly after handing over his Goa charge to Laxmikant Parsekar and hours before taking off for Delhi, Parrikar told The Sunday Express that defence forces had to be strengthened to strengthen the country. Having held forth on this at some length, he abruptly clarified: “I don’t know which portfolio I am getting.”

Reports of Parrikar taking over as the next defence minister have been doing the rounds for the last couple of days. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the ministry since the Modi government came to power.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar ‘seeks’ Rs 10 royalty for a pic:

As the journalists jostled to take pictures of Manohar Parrikar, after he filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh today, the new defence minister jokingly asked Rs 10 as royalty.

“Now if anyone takes the picture I will charge Rs 10 as royalty,” he said in a lighter vein as the photo journalists almost stormed the podium in the conference hall.

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On being asked by the journalists to speak in Hindi Parrikar said,”I know Hindi, but it is not very good. I will learn Hindi in three-four months as I myself don’t like to mix English words.”

Top 5 challenges for new defence minister Manohar Parrikar:

• Tackling Pakistan
• The Chinese Conundrum
• Sanctioning defence deals
• Speeding up DRDO output
• Solving the naval puzzle

“Only due to my lack of information because I was the Chief Minister of Goa, I was not the Defence Minister. I was not even in the Centre. Therefore, on this, give me a week to have a complete understanding. I will talk to the Prime Minister after that I will reply,” he said. Parrikar is now all set to begin his stint at the Centre with speculations rife that he would be given the important portfolio of Defence Ministry.

Parrikar thanked Narendra Modi for showing confidence in him. “I thank Modi for showing confidence in me. I am confident of resolving any issue related to defence,” he said.