Utpal Parrikar is the son of late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. He recently made headlines after resigning from the BJP after being refused a ticket from the Panaji constituency, where his father had been fighting elections for decades. He has chosen to contest as an independent candidate in this year’s election.

Utpal Parrikar was born and raised in the state of Goa. His father, Manohar Parrikar, was the 10th Chief Minister of Goa, and his mother, Medha Parrikar, is an entrepreneur. He has a sibling named Abhijit Parrikar as well.

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Utpal began his political career in April 2019 with his first public gathering in Mapusa. Although he did not receive a ticket from the BJP this time, he opted to oppose it and run as an independent candidate.

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His father, Manohar Parrikar, was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who served as the Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 till his death in 2018. He previously served as Chief Minister of Goa from 2000 to 2005, 2012 to 2014, and 2017 to 2019.

From October 2014 until March 2017, he was also the Minister of Defence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance cabinet. He was a former Rajya Sabha Member from Uttar Pradesh.

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He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as an MLA in an Indian state and then become the Chief Minister of a state in India, the first Goan to become a cabinet-rank minister at the Centre, and the first Chief Minister of a state to serve for more than a year despite being diagnosed with terminal-stage cancer. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan in January 2020.