In Manohar Parrikar's passing, the country has lost a stalwart leader who personified simplicity and championed the middle road despite BJP's lurch to the right in many states. Parrikar's illness was a setback to Goa, which was counting on his return from Delhi to stamp out the political instability created by a hung assembly. It is a tribute to Parrikar's acceptability that parties like MGP and GFP which campaigned on an anti-BJP platform in the 2017 elections were willing to ally with BJP after the polls provided Parrikar would become chief minister. Credited with building BJP in Goa, Parrikar achieved the task without alienating the large Christian minority. Parrikar's centrist and pragmatic positions and fielding of Christian candidates allayed fears of Hindutva in this coastal state with many fish and beef eaters. The IIT graduate turned industrialist turned CM, who drove his own car, hitched rides and cultivated an aam aadmi persona, was quick to gain national prominence. It was during Parrikar's tenure as defence minister that India undertook surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016 and implemented One Rank One Pension to assuage discontent in the armed forces. Reduced to 12 MLAs in the 36-member Goa assembly, BJP will struggle without Parrikar. But it will take comfort in Congress, the single largest party with 14 legislators, struggling to regroup since the daring coup of 2017 when BJP formed the government despite being defeated. Since then, three Congress MLAs have resigned and crossed over to BJP. Though senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat has denied rumours of his impending defection, it sums up the disarray in Congress ranks. Despite staking claim to form government, Congress has been unable to impress the ten-member bloc of non-BJP, non-Congress MLAs who can be expected to bargain harder with both sides now.