After UP, BJP sets eyes on Goa, U'khand: Parrikar's son denied ticket from family pocket borough

After announcing candidates for 110 of 403 seats in UP, BJP has set its eyes on two other poll-bound states--Uttarakhand and Goa, releasing the first list of 59 candidates in the hill state and 34 in the coastal state respectively.

While in Uttarakhand the BJP fielded former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's son Saurabh Bahuguna from Sitarganj, the name of Utpal Parrikar, son of the former chief minister and most prominent leader of the state in few decades late Manohar Parrikar was missing with the party fielding Atanasio Babush Monserrate from Panaji. While Saurabh was a sitting MLA, this would have been the first election for Utpal.

Utpal, who was declined a nomination from the seat represented by his father, has been offered to choose from two other seats but is reportedly not keen to let go of his father's constituency.

The party's dilemma was how to deny a ticket from the seat to Monserrate, who is the sitting MLA.

Monserrate had won the seat for Congress in 2019 after a gap of 26 years. The seat was held by Manohar Parrikkhar in 1994. Monserrate had won the Panaji seat then by a wafer-thin margin of 1758 votes against BJP candidate Sidharth Kuncalienkar.

After three months' latest stint in Congress, Monserrate along with nine other MLAs had quit Congress under the leadership of the then Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar to merge with the BJP.

This time Parrikar's son was a serious contender but the BJP preferred the 'turncoat' sitting MLA to a political novice for the prestigious seat. A party hopper, Monserrate first became an MLA from United Goan Democratic Party, then joined the BJP in 2004, back to UGDP in 2007. He also served as Vice President of the Goa Forward Party before he joined Congress again in 2019.

However, BJP's poll in charge for Goa Devendra Fadnavis sought to soothe the ruffled weather insisting that the Parrikar family is BJP's own family.

"But from the seat that Utpal wanted to contest, we already have a sitting MLA and it would not be fair to drop him. However, we have given him the option of contesting from two other seats and the talks are progressing in that direction," Fadnavis said addressing the media in the BJP national headquarters.

BJP has also fielded Monserrate's wife from another seat, Taleigao. Another leader from Congress, who had crossed over to the BJP Vishwajit Rane and his wife have been fielded Valpoi and Poriem respectively.

By fielding the two power couples, BJP has given a go by to its one family one ticket formula. "Sometimes in politics, we see what we call an occupational hazard," explained Fadnavis.

An important leader from BJP in Uttarakhand Harak Singh Rawat, also a Congress deserter is now likely to join Congress after he was expelled from the BJP for lobbying for tickets to his family members.

One of the arguments given by the BJP for denying him a ticket was that Rawat was pressurising for a ticket to his kin despite one family one ticket formulae in the BJP. Clearly, the BJP changed the rules of the game in Goa.

In both states, the BJP has fielded sitting Chief Ministers from their sitting seats Pramod Sawant from Sanquelim in Goa and Pushkar Dhami from Khatima in Uttarakhand.

In the list of candidates for 59 of the 70 Assembly seats in the hill state, the party dropped 10 of its sitting MLAs and fielded 15 candidates and five women. The state's CM from BJP Dhami as well as Congress' CM faces Harish Rawat belong to the dominant Thakur community. Brahmins are the second most influential community in the state, whose most prominent leader was Congress' Narayan Dutt Tiwari.

Meanwhile, Congress released its second list of 41 candidates for Uttar Pradesh and fielded 16 women, sticking to its 40 per cent ticket formula for women. An international shooter Poonam Pandit is among the candidates announced. So far Congress has announced 166 candidates for the seven phased Uttar Pradesh polls starting February 10.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: