Panaji: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had tried to dodge Prime Minister Narendra Modi's offer to elevate him to the union cabinet, he has said, adding that it took him a couple of weeks to take a call on it.

"On October 26, I had gone to meet Modi to discuss the Goa mining issue and provide some financial help for the state. He said we will do all that, but he also asked me 'why don't you join the central cabinet?'. It was like a bomb dropped on me," Parrikar said late on Tuesday.