Opp parties rally around Parrikar son days before BJP declares list

“If Utpal Parrikar contests Independent from Panaji seat, I propose all non-BJP parties including @AAP, @INCGoa @AITCoffical @Goaforwardparty shd support his candidature @ not field a candidate against him. This will be a true tribute to Manohar Bhai!” he tweeted.

Goa BJP president Sadanand Tanavade said on Monday that the party’s central leadership will announce the names of 39 election candidates on Wednesday. He, however, refused to comment on Raut’s suggestion about opposition parties backing a BJP ‘leader’. “He (Utpal) is not a leader. He is a member of the party. I will not comment on statements made about (aspiring) candidates from each constituency,” Tanavade said.

The AAP has already declared its Goa vice-president Valmiki Naik as its candidate from Panaji. Naik, however, said on Monday that he would withdraw his candidature if Utpal wished to contest on an AAP ticket.

“Like Arvindji has said, we respect Manohar Parrikarji. If his son wants to join our party, he is welcome,” said Naik.

Asked if he would make way for Utpal for Panaji, he said, “Definitely. This is a party-level decision and not about my personal ambition. We are all loyal workers of the party.”

Utpal has staked claim to his father’s erstwhile constituency claiming that party workers who once supported Parrikar are now working alongside him. However, giving the Panaji ticket to Utpal would mean denying ticket to the incumbent Atanasio Monserrate, who was one of the 10 defectors who switched over to the BJP from the Congress. In the bypoll necessitated by Parrikar’s death in 2019, Monserrate had won the Panaji seat on a Congress ticket. However, the seat returned to the BJP with the defections that came months later.

Last week, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP’s Goa election incharge Devendra Fadnavis had said that the BJP does not give election tickets to candidates just because they are children of party leaders. “Manohar bhai did a lot of work to establish the BJP in Goa. But nobody gets a ticket in the BJP just because they are the son of Manohar bhai or some leader. If they have worked, they are considered. I cannot take a decision regarding this. Only our parliamentary board can take this decision,” Fadnavis said.

Utpal had said a day later, “Just winnability? Does integrity not matter? Character doesn’t matter? If a person with criminal antecedents is being given the ticket to represent the constituency held by Manohar Parrikar, should we sit at home? These are very important things and this is not just about Panaji. The political situation in Goa is not acceptable. It has to change. And that is why I am trying (to get a ticket).”

He said that he was not seeking a BJP ticket only because he was Parrikar’s son. “If I wanted a ticket only as Parrikar’s son, I would have insisted on that the last time (2019) when it was denied to me through the back door. Since 1994, a lot many BJP workers have toiled with my father. And if you see on the ground, they are now toiling with me,” Utpal had said.

He had said that while he was hopeful that the BJP will grant him a ticket to contest the Panaji seat, he will also have to be prepared to take “tough decisions”.