the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership has “formally invited” Utpal and Abhijat, the two sons of the late chief minister Manohar Parrikar to join the party, Rajya Sabha MP and its State unit president Vinay Tendulkar said on Monday.
The Parrikar siblings were formally told to join the party by BJP national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna a few days after Parrikar’s death, Tendulkar said.
“BJP national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna requested both of Parrikar’s sons to join the BJP when he met them after Parrikar’s death,” Tendulkar said, adding that he was present when Khanna spoke to grieving duo.
Tendulkar also said that Khanna told the two brothers to work for the party like their father did through his life.
“It is a proposal directly made to them (Utpal and Abhijat) by the party Central leadership. We (State unit) will follow up on the proposal with them,” Tendulkar said when asked whether the local leaders are in touch with them.
Asked to comment on media reports that the party is considering fielding one of Parrikar’s sons in Panjim, the seat which has fallen vacant following the former chief minister’s death, Tendulkar said it is too early as the schedule for the by-election for Panjim has not yet been declared by the Election Commission.
BJP sources, however, told The Goan that the issue of Parrikar’s elder son Utpal being among the contenders for candidacy in Panjim is a topic being hotly debated at various levels in the party, especially among ‘karyakatas’ from the capital. The Goan had reported that the BJP is keeping the option open of roping in one of the Parrikar siblings, preferably the older Utpal, particularly after Taleigao and Corporation of the City of Panaji strongman Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate announced he will enter the fray.
Monserrate had contested the 2017 Assembly elections from Panjim and lost but the 1000-odd votes margin separating him and the BJP’s
eventual victor Siddharth Kuncolienkar was too thin for comfort for the saffron party in Panjim which was won for them uninterruptedly since 1994 by Parrikar.
Fielding one of Parrikar’s sons, the party leaders and ‘karyakartas’ backing the move argue will help exploit the ‘sympathy’ factor. It is precisely the reason that prompted the party to allot the ticket for the Mapusa bye-elections to the late Francis D’Souza’s son, Joshua.
In other cases too the BJP in Goa and elsewhere in the country has preferred to nominate kith and kin after leaders have passed away. In Goa, it nominated Alina Saldanha after her husband Matanhy suddenly passed away in 2012. Later, when the late poet-turned-politician Vishnu Surya Wagh was incapacitated following a massive heart attack, his brother Wamanrao was nominated by the BJP from St Andre.
Elsewhere in the country too the party has nominated their children to contest elections when stalwarts like Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde died tragically.
Back home, whether or not Utpal or Abhijat will eventually accept the party’s invitation and follow in their late father’s path into politics will heavily depend on the collective decision that the Parrikar clan will take, in due course.
Confident Dhavalikar will not
contest Shiroda, says BJP
PANAJI: Bharatiya Janata Party State president, Vinay Tendulkar on Monday said, although MGP President Deepak Dhavalikar has restarted moving in the constituency to campaign, he is confident that the ally will eventually back off from contesting the April 23 Shiroda bypoll.
“Everyone feels like contesting an election. Deepak has started campaigning from yesterday but I am confident he will eventually not contest after what transpired between the Dhavalikar brothers and the BJP central emissaries during discussion for formation of the coalition government led by Pramod Sawant,” Tendulkar said, while responding to questions during a press conference he addressed along with former MLA
Damu Naik.
Tendulkar said, every party worker is important for the BJP and it is a matter of immense sadness that Sudhir Kandolkar resigned from the party and joined the Congress after being denied the ticket for the Mapusa bye-poll.
“He (Sudhir) should have remained with us,” he added.
