The BJP has formally started its hunt for a leadership alternative to ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, party leaders as well as an alliance partner said on Thursday.

The issue of leadership change had been a taboo subject for most of the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership, including MLAs and state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar, who until late on Wednesday had maintained that there was no question of even discussing possible alternatives to Parrikar's leadership as the Chief Minister, who is suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, was "recovering" and "governing the state well".