Utpal Parrikar, son of former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who quit the BJP and announced he would contest next month's Goa Assembly elections from Panaji as an independent, will file his nomination on Thursday morning, setting up a contest with his former party's candidate Atanasio 'Babush' Monserrate.
Mr Parrikar had said that quitting the party was the "most difficult" decision, but he was ready to withdraw from the poll race if the BJP fields a "good candidate" from the constituency - seen as a reference to criminal cases against Mr Monserrate, who was his father's long-time rival.
Mr Parrikar was denied a ticket by the BJP from Panaji, a constituency which his father and party veteran had represented for more than two decades. Upset over the decision, Mr Parrikar on Friday quit the BJP and said he would fight the February 14 elections from the Panaji seat as an independent.
The BJP has nominated from Panaji its sitting MLA Babush Monserrate, one of ten legislators who had joined the BJP in July 2019 after quitting Congress. Mr Monserrate is facing criminal cases, including a case of rape of a teenager.
Talking to news agency PTI over the weekend, Utpal Parrikar, the elder son of Manohar Parrikar, had said the BJP is always in his heart and he is fighting for the party's soul.
He said the decision to quit the party was not easy for him. "It was the most difficult decision. All this while I was hoping that I won't have to take such a decision," he said.
He said he was trying to avoid this kind of a situation (where he had to resign and contest as an independent). "I am not happy that I had to take this decision, but sometimes you have to take tough decisions. But I am ready to withdraw the decision if the party fields a good candidate from Panaji," he said.
Without elaborating, Mr Parrikar claimed that the denial of a ticket to him is similar to the 1994 situation when attempts were made to throw his father out of the party and said that the BJP as an organisation is "crumbling" in Goa.
Referring to the 2019 Panaji by-election, which was necessitated due to the death of his father, he recalled that he was denied a ticket even at that time. "I was denied ticket despite having the support. I believed in the party institution and respected the decision," he said.
