Manohar Parrikar's son questions BJP for giving tickets to 'tainted' leaders

Former Goa Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar's son and BJP leader Utpal Parrikar questioned the BJP's decision to not provide him with a party ticket in the upcoming Goa assembly polls, asking why the party could provide tickets to questionable candidates but not a 'clean character' like himself.

Panaji:Former Goa Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar's son and BJP leader Utpal Parrikar questioned the BJP's decision to not provide him with a party ticket in the upcoming Goa assembly polls from the Panaji constituency, asking why the party could provide tickets to questionable candidates but not a 'clean character' like himself.

Parrikar, as per information, has begun preparations to fight the elections as an independent candidate.

"If you can give tickets from Panaji to rapists, criminals then why can't you give a ticket to a candidate with a clean character like me?," the former CM's son said on Friday, after a statement by BJP's Goa state election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis highlighting that Parrikar would not be given the ticket due to being the son of ex-Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

BJP, it is learned, is trying to pacify him, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah having summoned Parrikar to Delhi.

BJP has been holding on to the Panaji constituency for the last 30 years. After former CM Manohar Parrikar's death in 2019, Atansio 'Babush' Monserrate, then representing Congress, won the seat, but later joined the BJP.