Denied ticket, Goa ex-CM Laxmikant Parsekar quits BJP, says will contest as Independent

The development comes a day after Utpal Parrikar, son of late Defence Minister and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, resigned from the BJP.

Laxmikant Parsekar (file photo)

A day after Utpal Parrikar resigned from the BJP, former Goa chief minister and veteran saffron party leader Laxmikant Parsekar, after being denied ticket by the party, also followed suit. He announced that he will be contesting the Assembly polls as an Independent candidate.

Parsekar had served as the Goa CM after Parrikar moved to Delhi to take charge as the country’s Defence Minister in 2014. In the 2017 assembly polls, he was defeated from the Mandrem seat by Congress’s Dayanand Sopte.

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However, Sopte, who came to be known as the “giant killer” after defeating the then incumbent CM, later resigned from Congress and joined BJP.

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Parsekar had held a meeting with his supporters in Mandrem after the BJP announced that Sopte will contest from Mandrem.

“If you think of the people of the constituency, I will have to contest. Even if I may have lifted the party from the beginning, I was told that in the interest of the taluka and the children in my constituency, I must resign,” Parsekar told reporters on Saturday.

Parsekar, who has his roots in the RSS, has been a three-time BJP MLA and former Goa BJP president. He has been with the BJP for about 32 years.

“After thinking about it, I decided with a heavy heart that the time has come. While resigning, I didn’t want to take any political benefit. For the overall development of the constituency, I have decided to relieve myself of all the responsibilities of the party,” he said.

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Parsekar was a member of the core committee of the Goa BJP and also the convenor of its manifesto committee.

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