PANAJI
The BJP is preparing to bring former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar back into the party and is holding talks with Utpal Parrikar, son of former CM and ex-Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, ahead of the upcoming Assembly session.
BJP Goa President Damu Naik confirmed that a meeting was held with Parsekar and a decision to induct him into the party had been taken. The formalities will follow, he added with Parsekar also confirming the political development.
Naik further said BJP held two meetings with Utpal, adding that formalities would also follow. However, no formal announcement has been made regarding either induction.
At the backdrop of this development, BJP National President Nitin Nabin is scheduled to visit Goa on October 27 and 28, during which he will hold a series of meetings with party leaders. Parsekar had served as Goa chief minister from 2014 to 2017 and played a key role as BJP state president in 2012, when the party secured a majority and formed the government in the State. He resigned from the BJP's primary membership in January 2022 after 32 years in the party, following the denial of a ticket to contest from Mandrem in the Assembly elections. The BJP had fielded its sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte from the constituency, prompting Parsekar to sever ties with the party.
Utpal Parrikar, meanwhile, remained politically significant in Panaji following his father's death in 2019. He contested the 2022 Assembly election as an Independent after the BJP denied him a ticket from the constituency, which was then represented by his father. The BJP fielded Atanasio Monserrate, who won the seat.
Bhivpachi garaz na, CM to BJP MLAs
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday used his iconic phrase “Bhivpachi garaz na” to reassure the BJP sitting MLAs amid former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Utpal Parrikar meeting senior party leaders. “Parsekar and Utpal met our co-organisation members. I don’t know anything about the issue, so I cannot comment,” Sawant told reporters.
