Even as the dust seems to have settled over the formation of the BJP-led coalition Government in Goa, the next big question which has begun to create a buzz in the coastal State’s political circles is where Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar would be contesting from his seat in the State Assembly.
Parrikar, currently a Rajya Sabha member, was rushed to Goa by BJP national president Amit Shah in March, to spearhead the Government formation process after the announcement of the State Assembly election results and forcing him to give up his charge as Defence Minister. Parrikar had campaigned extensively for the BJP in the run-up to the March 2017 elections.
State Bharatiya Janata Party president Vinay Tendulkar told The Pioneer that more than half the members of the 13-member legislative wing of the ruling party were willing to resign and offer their respective seats for Parrikar to contest.
“At least six to seven MlAs have offered their seats for Parrikarji’s elections. Everyone is willing to sacrifice for him. This is his level of leadership and the following that he has,” Tendulkar said.
The State BJP president was, however, unwilling to share the names of the MlAs or the Constituencies which the party had short-listed for Parrikar’s candidature. “We will announce it at the right time. But this election is going to be a cakewalk,” Tendulkar said.
Prime among the legislators who have offered to resign from their legislatorship is Curchorem MlA Nilesh Cabral, one of BJP’s seven elected Catholic MlAs.
“I am willing to resign as MlA, even at a few days notice. All the party needs to do is inform me. I will continue to work for the people without being a legislator. After all we will have a Chief Minister to represent my Constituency. It will be a matter of pride for us,” Cabral said.
Curchorem is largely Hindu-dominated Constituency and is located in South Goa’s mining belt, which has taken the brunt of the impact of the mining ban a few years ago.
Another legislator who has publicly offered his seat for Parrikar, is the former Defence Minister’s protégé Sidharth Kunkalienkar, who is the sitting MlA from the Panaji legislative Constituency.
Incidentally, it was Kunkalienkar who was elected to the Panaji seat in 2015, shortly after Parrikar was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to serve as Defence Minister. Kunkalie-
nkar won the seat again in the 2017 Assembly seat, albeit with a depleted margin.
Parrikar, a four-time Chief Minister has time till August to get himself elected to the State Assembly.
While Parrikar has incidentally preferred to keep mum on the issue, party sources claim, that the drop in the margin of Kunkalienkar’s victory from 5,368 votes in 2015 to 1,039 in 2017, has led to the top leadership reconsidering whether the BJP should field Parrikar from the Panaji seat, which he has represented since 1994.
“There is no harm in thinking of alternative seats. We are shortlisting a few
seats. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is in-charge of Goa affairs and Parrikar himself will be taking the final call on the issue,” a senior BJP leader said.