Late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar  |  Photo Credit: PTI
Panaji: Late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar, who quit the BJP and announced he would contest the coming Goa Assembly elections from Panaji as an independent, will file his nomination on Thursday morning.
Parrikar will contest against his former party’s candidate and his father’s long-time rival Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate.
Monserrate, sitting MLA from Panaji, is one of ten legislators who had switched over to the saffron party in July 2019 after quitting Congress. Monserrate is facing criminal cases, including a case of rape of a minor.
Parrikar had said that quitting the BJP was the “most difficult” decision, but he is ready to withdraw from the poll race if the saffron party fields a “good candidate” from the constituency, in an apparent reference to criminal charges against Monserrate.
The BJP refused to field Parrikar from Panaji, a constituency which his father and party veteran had represented for more than two decades.
Miffed over denial of ticket, Parrikar on Friday resigned from the BJP and said he would fight the February 14 elections from the Panaji seat as an independent.
“I am not happy that I had to take this decision, but some times you have to take tough decisions. But I am ready to withdraw the decision if the party fields a good candidate from Panaji,” he had told PTI.
Expressing dismay over the BJP’s decision, he said, “I was denied ticket despite having the support. I believed in the party institution and respected the decision.”