Goa Assembly elections 2022: Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar quits BJP, to contest as Independent candidate

Utpal Parrikar, the son of late former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar has announced that he will be contesting as an Independent candidate from Panaji. "I will be contesting as an Independent candidate from Panaji constituency," Utpal Parrikar, son of late former CM Manohar Parrikar said here. The Bharatiya Janata Party, on Thursday, released a list of 34 candidates for the Goa Assembly election 2022. Utpal Parrikar's name was not included in the list and according to reports citing BJP sources, there were differences between the party and Parrikar over the seat that could be offered to him. 

The BJP has fielded  Atanasio Monserrate 'Babush' from Panaji, a seat late Manohar Parrikar held for almost 25 years. "For our party, the Parrikar family is always our family. But from the seat that Utpal wanted to contest from we already have a sitting MLA and it would not be fair to drop the sitting MLA. However, we had given him the option of contesting from two other seats and the talks are progressing in that direction," BJP's Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis had said. Amid uncertainty over his candidature, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had offered an AAP ticket to Utpal. The Shiv Sena had also offered to support Utpal Parrikar and reportedly declared that the party will withdraw its candidate if Parrikar contests Goa Assembly elections 2022.