Parrikar’s son missing in Goa BJP list, 10 MLAs dropped in U’khand
The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 34 candidates for the Goa Assembly polls and 59 candidates for Uttarakhand. In both the states, the sitting chief ministers have been renominated from their current seats. Goa CM Pramod Sawant will contest from Sanquelim while Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami will contest from Khatima. In Uttarakhand, the BJP has dropped 10 sitting MLAs.
Interestingly, the name of Utpal Parrikar, son of late former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, was missing from the Goa first list. The party has nominated former Congress leader Atanasio Babush Monserrate from Panaji, the seat represented by the late BJP leader, which his son had actively sought and had wanted to contest from.
Manohar Parrikar, who had died in March 2019 while serving as Goa’s
chief minister, had represented Panaji for over two decades.
When asked, the BJP’s poll in-charge for Goa, Devendra Fadnavis, said that for the BJP, the Parrikar family was like its own family. “But from the seat that Utpal wanted to contest, we already have a sitting MLA and it would not be fair to drop him. However, we have given him the option of contesting from two other seats, and the talks are
progressing in that direction,” Mr Fadnavis said.
While the party fielded Mr Monserrate from Panaji, his wife has been fielded from Taleigao. Similarly, another former Congress leader, Vishwajit Rane, will contest on a BJP ticket from Valpoi while his wife Divya Rane will stand from Poriem.
Responding to a question on why the BJP, which usually gives only
one poll ticket to a family, made an exception in Goa, Mr Fadnavis called it an “occupational hazard”. He said: “Sometimes in politics, we see what we call an occupational hazard. Both Babush Monserrate and his wife were elected and then joined the BJP. Jennifer Monserrate has a separate identity and she is a minister in the current BJP government. Similarly, Vishwajit Rane has been given a ticket from his seat and his wife from his father Pratapsingh Rane’s seat.”
The BJP has given tickets to 11 OBC candidates, nine Christians and two women in the first list in Goa.
Minutes after the BJP announced its Goa list, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accused the saffron party of adopting a “use and throw policy even with the Parrikar family”, as he invited Utpal Parrikar to join the AAP and contest the Assembly election on its ticket.
“Goans feel v sad that BJP has adopted use and throw policy even with Parrikar family. I have always respected Manohar Parrikar ji. Utpal ji is welcome to join and fight elections on AAP ticket,” the Delhi CM said in a tweet.
In the Uttarakhand list, the BJP has dropped around 10 sitting MLAs, including former chief minister B.C. Khanduri’s daughter, Ritu Khanduri Bhushan.
State BJP president Madan Kaushik will again contest from Haridwar, while the names of ministers like Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat are also on the list. In the list, 22 candidates are Thakurs, 15 Brahmins, 13 Scheduled Castes and three from the trading community.
Former Congress women’s wing chief Sarita Arya, who had joined the BJP a few days back, has been fielded from the Nainital seat.
Assembly polls to the 40member Goa Assembly and the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly will be held on February 14, while the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.