News Analysis India

Tag: Manohar Parrikar

  • Doesn’t BJP believe in integrity, character, asks late Goa CM Manohar Parrikar’s Son Utpal

    By PTI

    PANAJI: A day after being snubbed by senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis over poll ticket, Utpal Parrikar, son of former Goa chief minister late Manohar Parrikar, on Thursday asked whether the party believes in integrity and character or not.

    He also said that the BJP leaders from Panaji assembly constituency, who earlier worked with his father, are currently supporting him in his campaign.

    On Wednesday, Fadnavis had said that the party can’t give a ticket to anybody for the February 14 Goa assembly polls just because he is a son of a leader.

    His comment was apparently aimed at Utpal Parrikar, who has been lobbying to get the party’s candidature from the Panaji assembly seat.

    Panaji constituency is currently represented by BJP MLA Atanasio Monserratte, who had shifted from Congress to BJP in 2019.

    “I am a small party worker and cannot comment on what senior leader like Devendra Fadnavis has said. But if I wanted to ask for a ticket just because I am son of Manohar Parrikar, then I would have demanded it last time (during the by-election held after the death of Parrikar),” he said.

    The former defence minister died on May 17, 2019.

    Utpal Parrikar said that he continues to meet the voters in Panaji constituency.

    “Those BJP leaders who were with my father right from 1994 are currently with me,” he said.

    Expressing unhappiness over the way “things are happening in Goa”, he asked whether integrity and character do not matter.

    “Will the party give ticket to the person with criminal antecedents in the constituency represented by late Manohar Parrikar?” he asked, apparently referring to Monserratte, who is currently facing a trial in a rape case.

    “This is not just about Panaji. The political situation unfolding in Goa is not acceptable. It has to change,” Parrikar said.

  • Late Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal stakes claim to Panaji seat ahead of Goa polls

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Utpal Parrikar, the son of late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, on Monday said he wanted to contest his maiden election from Panaji Assembly seat, which was represented by his father, as a BJP nominee.

    “I have already conveyed to the party about my desire to contest (polls) from Panaji,” he told reporters.

    When asked whether he would contest as an Independent candidate in the event of BJP denying him a ticket for the polls, due next February, Utpal said, “I am confident that the party will give me a ticket. I am holding talks with them. I am in constant touch with BJP”.

    Panaji constituency had been represented by the Parrikar senior multiple times in the past.

    The BJP lost the Panaji seat to Congress candidate Atanasio Monserrate in the by-election held after the death of Manohar Parrikar in 2019.

    Monserrate later joined BJP along with nine other MLAs of Congress.

    Utpal Parrikar, a businessman with a Master’s degree from the US, had announced his intention to join politics soon after his father’s death in March 2019.

  • Parrikar to meet BJP legislators amid resignation demands

    Amid demands of his resignation, ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is expected to meet the ruling BJP legislators at his private residence on Saturday, party sources said on Friday.

    “The Chief Minister will be meeting our party MLAs at his residence. He is expected to review works related to MLAs in the presence of key officials of the State administration,” a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) source said.

    The former Defence Minister is being treated at his residence for advanced pancreatic cancer.

    Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and New Delhi for nearly nine months.

    He returned from Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on October 14 and has not moved out of his private residence, for any official event since.

    The Opposition, as well ruling coalition allies have been demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister, claiming that the administration has come to a standstill due to Parrikar’s absence.

    On Thursday, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte said that he had stopped visiting his office at the State Secretariat, claiming files were not being cleared by officials in the Chief Minister’s absence.

    In the first week of December, the Congress is scheduled to start a State-wide agitation demanding the replacement of Parrikar as Chief Minister, because of his inability to attend office due to his prolonged illness.