The Shiv Sena has dropped its candidate in Goa’s Panaji in favour of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal, who is running as an independent in the February 14 state election after being passed over by the BJP. Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena MP, had earlier urged all opposition parties to support Utpal Parrikar if he did not receive a BJP ticket to contest from Panaji.
“We’re sticking to our word. Shailendra Velingkar, the Shiv Sena’s candidate in Panaji, has withdrawn his candidacy. Not only that, but our employees will fully support Utpal Parrikar. We believe that the fight for Panaji is about more than just elections; it is also about the purification of Goa politics (sic),” Sanjay Raut said in a tweet.
Raut’s tweet included a quote from Utpal Parrikar, who appeared to be criticising the BJP for selecting Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate: “You will give ticket to the person with criminal antecedent in the constituency represented by late Manohar Parrikar?”
Utpal Parrikar, an engineer, says he is betting his political career on defeating the BJP’s candidate in Panaji, especially since his father built the party from the ground up in Goa, particularly in this constituency.
Manohar Parrikar, the third Chief Minister of Gujarat, died in 2019. He was mayor of Panaji for 25 years. In the by-election that followed Parrikar’s death, his long-time rival Babush Monserrate, who was accused of rape, won as a Congress candidate but later switched to the BJP.
Utpal Parrikar had urged the BJP to nominate him this time, but the party chose to stick with Monserrate instead, offering him a different constituency.
Parrikar has received open support from the Shiv Sena and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Meanwhile, Utpal, was not denied a ticket, in fact he was offered two other constituencies as options to contest from, the BJP’s poll in-charge for the coastal state Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said.
Speaking to reporters in Mapusa town, Fadnavis had also said that there were limitations to the party’s outreach efforts to bring back into the fold rebels like Utpal Parrikar and former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.
“Utpal Parrikar has not been denied a ticket. We have given Utpal Parrikar the option to contest in two constituencies. One of them was a traditional BJP bastion, but he wanted to contest from the Panaji (assembly) constituency in particular. He rejected both assembly constituencies. We are sad that he is not with us,” Fadnavis had said.
Utpal Parrikar quit the BJP last week after he was denied a ticket to contest from the Panaji Assembly constituency, which was represented by his father from 1994 to 2019, when he died in office.
Utpal Parrikar has claimed that he took the decision because of the tainted background of the BJP’s official candidate Atanasio Monserrate, who is being probed for raping a minor girl in 2018.
Another major rebellion faced by the BJP is the one by Parsekar, who also quit the BJP and has filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate, after his claim for a ticket was also rejected in favour of sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte, who joined the saffron Party from the Congress in 2019.
Fadnavis said that efforts to bring in both the rebels are back, but added that there is limitation to such outreach.
“It is always our wish, that if someone from our family is separated, then they should come back to the family. Such efforts are on. But if someone has decided that they do not want to come back, then there are limitations to our efforts too, but if someone does decide to return to the family, then we will certainly welcome them and bring them closer,” he said.
Elections to 40 seats of the state legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held on February 14.
With inputs from IANS.
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