the goan I network
PANAJI
Done and dusted with installing Pramod Sawant as Chief Minister, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is now engaged with the task of finding a suitable candidate to fill the iconic Manohar Parrikar’s shoes as MLA of Panjim and the party is keeping open the option of roping in one of the two Parrikar siblings -- Utpal or Abhijat.
According to a top BJP functionary, the party will conduct a survey through its booth committees and Panaji mandal to find a pick for the byelection to the seat vacant following Parrikar’s death.
Should this survey indicate that party sympathisers support the idea of nominating any of his sons, the leadership will take steps to rope them in, the former legislator said.
Meanwhile, discussion over Parrikar’s son, Utpal, being the front-runner for the BJP ticket in Panjim flooded social media platforms over the past couple of days, particularly after Taleigao strongman Atanasio Monserrate announced he will throw his hat in the ring when the byelections are held. Monserrate had abandoned his St Cruz seat and quit the Congress to contest in Panjim as candidate of United Goans Party (UGP) he had floated but lost to the BJP’s Siddharth Kuncolienkar in the 2017 assembly elections.
Subsequently, when Kuncolienkar vacated the seat to enable Parrikar contest the byelection to fulfill the Constitutional requirement of membership of the House after he took over as CM of the coalition, Monserrate strangely stayed away from contesting against him. Instead, he unsuccessfully attempted to coerce his protege Tony Fernandes to vacate the St Cruz for him.
Kuncolienkar, meanwhile, said he was ‘unaware’ of reports that the party is tapping Utpal Parrikar as its candidate for the likely Panjim bypoll.
“Whoever the party gives the ticket to will be fully supported,” Kuncolienkar, a former close aide of the late chief minister said.
