Ahead of Goa Assembly elections, Utpal Parrikar, son of late Defence Minister and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar is all set to contest as an independent candidate from Panaji after the BJP refused to name him its candidate from the same assembly constituency.

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“I tried my best to convince my party during the last election (2019 bypoll after Manohar Parrikar’s death) and this election that I enjoy the support of all the workers who have been with this party for the last 30 years. They toiled with my father to build this party and now they are toiling with me. I also enjoy the support of the general population of Panaji. Inspite of that I have not been able to get the candidature of Panaji constituency,” said 40-year-old Utpal after resigning from the BJP.

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The former CM’s son also said that the battle ahead was going to be tough and the BJP no longer felt like the party his father, five-time MLA from Panaji, had strived to build in Goa. “Last time too the (BJP) organisation had rejected my candidature for some peculiar reasons. I had listened to the party then. Now they don’t feel like decisions made by Parrikar’s party,” Utpal said.

On Thursday, the BJP announced 34 out of 40 of its election candidates. With this, the BJP had declared sitting MLA Atanasio alias Babush Moserrate its candidate from Panaji.

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Monserrate, who had won the Panaji seat in the 2019 bypoll on a Congress ticket, had defected to the BJP with nine other Congress legislators, months after winning the bypoll.

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After the BJP refused to name him its candidate from the Panaji assembly constituency for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections, Utpal Parrikar, son of late Defence Minister and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, resigned from the party. He also announced on Friday that he will make his political debut in the February 14 assembly poll as an independent candidate from the Goan capital.

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The 40-constituency elections for the Goa assembly will be held in a single phase and are scheduled for February 14.