BJP's Goa headache: Why ex-CM Parsekar has quit after Parrikar's son

Another jolt for the BJP in poll-bound Goa. A day after the son of a former Chief Minister decided to quit the party, another ex-CM announced his decision to leave BJP.

Laxmikant Parsekar is smarting from his party's decision to not field him from the Mandrem constituency, which he represented between 2002 and 2017. He targeted the ruling party for not taking forward the development projects he had started when he was CM.

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Parsekar served as Goa CM between 2014 and 2017. In the 2017 elections, he was defeated by Congress leader Dayanand Sopte in Mandrem. Sopte had subsequently defected to the BJP. He has now been nominated from Mandrem again by the ruling party.

A day earlier, late Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal had announced his decision to quit the BJP. He wanted to contest from his father's constituency Panaji, but the BJP decided otherwise. Utpal said he would contest as an independent candidate in the upcoming polls. A day later, he seemed to have softened his stance, claiming his opposition is only against Atanasio Monserrate, the Panaji candidate selected by BJP. Monserrate is the sitting MLA from Panaji and a former Congress leader.

Goa will vote on February 14 with results being announced on March 10.