Parrikar's son to quit BJP, contest Goa polls as independent candidate

Rejecting the BJP's efforts to arrive at a compromise, former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar said on Friday that he would resign from the saffron party and contest as an Independent candidate for the February 14 polls from the Panaji Assembly constituency, which was formerly represented by his father.

Addressing a press conference, Utpal Parrikar also said that his candidature was rejected by the party during the 2019 Panaji bypolls -- facilitated after his father's death -- despite support from his constituents, adding that the BJP no longer looks like the party of which his father was a part.

"People of Panaji did not vote for Manohar Parrikar just because he was an MP. They voted for him because he stood for some values. The time has come for me to also stand for those values," Utpal Parrikar said, adding that he would be resigning from the party and contesting as an Independent candidate.

"Last time, the organisation rejected my candidature despite popular support due to some special reasons. People know the circumstances... Now it does not look like a decision of Parrikar's party," Utpal said.

Manohar Parrikar's elder son's candidature has been rejected twice by the BJP, in the 2019 bypolls and now in 2022. In the express instance, the BJP has offered a ticket to sitting MLA Atanasio Monserrate.

When Monserrate had contested the 2019 bypolls as a Congress candidate, BJP leaders had slammed him citing the list of criminal offences registered against him, which included a rape charge of a minor girl, extortion and leading a mob attack on a city police station.

Monserrate had won the polls on the Congress ticket, but had joined the BJP soon after.

"I feel embarrassed to talk about the candidate put up by the party. In Panaji, where the party has grown over 30 years, (the party) has given a ticket to someone who joined just two years ago. I have no choice now. I have to go to the people," he said.

"As far as a political party is concerned, the only party available to me is the BJP. The other platform is Independent, my own platform which I had to do unfortunately in these circumstances for the values I believe in," he said, adding that he would not be joining any other political outfit.