NIVRUTTI SHIRODKAR
PERNEM
Defending his decision to leave the Congress and return to the BJP, Dayanand Sopte who resigned as Mandrem MLA on Tuesday said he had done so with the sole intention of promoting development in Mandrem constituency.
When contacted, Sopte claimed that he had taken the step after taking main workers into confidence.
“My decision was for the sole intention of development in Mandrem constituency and to provide job opportunities to youth,” said Sopte.
“Development and employment has been a major problem in Mandrem constituency and despite my best efforts, it is not possible to promote development if you are not in power. Hence, I decided to join the ruling side,” Sopte said.
According to sources, Sopte’s departure from the BJP in 2012 and his subsequent return to the BJP on Tuesday, after a gap of six years, was largely at the behest of Health Minister and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane.
Sopte had contested the 2007 assembly election in Pernem constituency on the BJP ticket and had defeated Congress candidate Jitrendra Deshprabhu to become a first-time MLA.
Following the delimitation of constituencies, his Pernem constituency was reserved for the Scheduled Caste. On the advice of Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, Sopte resigned as BJP MLA and joined the Congress to contest the 2012 assembly elections from Mandrem constituency, but lost to former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar.
Sopte then exacted revenge as a Congress candidate in 2017 by defeating Parsekar in a major upset in Mandrem constituency.
Incidentally, Mandrem constituency has had an unusual record of having all
its MLAs serve as chief ministers or ministers at some point in time.
Former legislators from Mandrem constituency who went on to serve as ministers were Anthony D’Souza, Sangita Parab and Ramakant Khalap, while former Mandrem MLAs, Dayanand Bandodkar and Laximikant Parsekar went on to serve as chief ministers.
