PANAJI: Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar will contest from the Panaji Assembly seat for the upcoming bypoll, the Goa Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) president Vinay Tendulkar announced here on Wednesday.
Mr. Parrikar, former Defence Minister and currently a member of the Rajya Sabha from Lucknow, came back to State politics in March this year to head a (BJP)-led coalition government in Goa. He has to get elected to the 40-member State Assembly within six months of his taking over as Chief Minister.
“The party has decided that Mr. Parrikar should contest from Panaji. Accordingly sitting Panaji MLA Sidharth Kuncalienkar has voluntarily decided to step down,” Mr. Tendulkar told presspersons at the city BJP headquarters.
This puts an end to the speculation that the four-time Chief Minister could contest from the Curchorem Assembly seat in South Goa, which has elected BJP legislator Nilesh Cabral in the February 4 elections.
Mr. Parrikar has been elected from Panaji Assembly seat without a break from 1994 till 2014 when he was inducted in the Central Cabinet and subsequently resigned as an MLA.
Goa will also witness another bypoll in Valpoi constituency in north Goa after the newly-elected Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane quit from the party, resigned as an MLA and then joined the BJP before being inducted in the State cabinet as Health Minister.
Currently, while the Congress has 16 legislators, the BJP has 12 (after Mr. Siddarth Kuncalienkar resignation) in the 38-member House. The BJP which was second largest party after February 4 Assembly elections came to power in March this year by aligning with regional parties, namely, Goa Forward and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three other Independent MLAs. Congress, the single largest party is in the Opposition.
