On the third dying anniversary of his father late Defense Minister and former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday, issues appeared to have warmed up once more between the get together and Parrikar’s son Utpal Parrikar.
Utpal Parrikar resigned from the BJP earlier than the legislative meeting ballot held on February 14 in Goa. He contested as an unbiased candidate, taking the BJP’s candidate Atanasio alias Babush Monserrate head on.
Senior BJP leaders together with caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Goa BJP President Sadanand Tanavade, senior state leaders and his ballot adversary and Panaji MLA Atanasio alias Babush Monserrate paid their respects to Parrikar at his memorial, close to Miramar seaside in Panaji.
Utpal and members of his household had been current to greet them, as Sawant garlanded a statue of Parrikar.
Defeated by Monserrate by a slim margin of 716 votes within the Panaji meeting seat, Utpal informed reporters that by contesting as an unbiased candidate, he had proved his ‘winnability’ and if he had the lotus image, he would have gained comfortably.
In the Goan capital, Monserrate gained 6,787 votes whereas Utpal gained 6,071. Congress’s Elvis Gomes who completed third, received 3,175 votes.
Ahead of the election, Utpal was hopeful of getting a BJP ticket to contest the Panaji seat however the get together fielded Monserrate, the sitting MLA, from the seat that was represented by the senior Parrikar 5 occasions till his dying in 2019.
Sawant paid a floral tribute to Parrikar, fondly referred to as ‘Bhai’, at his memorial. (Express Photo)
“It was my endeavour to ensure that a good person goes to the assembly from Panaji…I tried, with my thoughts and ideas I moved ahead and got an enthusiastic response from the people. I am very happy and grateful for the support that I got. Even if I didn’t win, I have proved my winnability,” mentioned Utpal.
He mentioned, “If I had the lotus image with me I might have gotten 2500-3000 votes extra. I might have nearly touched 9,000, the identical quantity that Baba would get. Everyone has seen, the seniors have additionally seen that I might have reached there.
He mentioned he had gained votes that would have gone to the BJP in addition to people who might have gone to different events. “No one can claim that they have got 100 percent of the BJP’s votes. Some people vote based on the symbol, some people vote based on the issues related to the government at the Centre. He (Monserrate) got about 2,500-3,000 votes because of the lotus symbol. If I had it, I could have got those votes.”
He, nevertheless, mentioned he had no regrets about contesting concerning the lately concluded election as an unbiased candidate. “I could prove my winnability because I contested as an independent or else all my life I would have been told I don’t have winnability.”
Asked about his return to the BJP, he mentioned, These are technical issues that can come earlier than the folks quickly… I do not know what is going to occur sooner or later however I can always remember this debt of the folks of Panaji and that’s the reason I’ll proceed to boost their points.”
After the election outcomes had been declared on March 10, BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis had mentioned, “I’m comfortable about Monserrate’s win however I can’t be comfortable about Utpal’s defeat. He is part of our household. We will see what to do sooner or later. All I can say is that if he had stayed with us, he could be an MLA in the present day.”
Sawant paid a floral tribute to Parrikar, fondly referred to as ‘Bhai’, at his memorial and mentioned that he, senior leaders of the BJP, MLAs and authorities officers had attended the occasion to pay their respects to Parrikar, who will at all times be remembered by Goans , particularly for his contribution to the event of Goa’s infrastructure.
He additionally tweeted an outdated image of Parrikar shaking his hand within the legislative meeting and wrote, “Bhai has always been a source of inspiration, someone I could always look up to! He has not only brought me in the political arena; but has time and again guided me to serve the people with sincerity and impeccable integrity! On his ‘Punyatithi’ I offer my prayers on his remembrance! (sic)”.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
