Goa elections: BJP drops two ministers, chooses 2 couples, ignores Utpal in Panaji

PANAJI: BJP on Thursday announced its first list of 34 candidates for Goa, dropping three sitting MLAs including two ministers but retaining a former minister who had quit over allegations of sex scandal. The party also refused to give the Panaji ticket to former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal, which his father held from 1994 till his demise in March 2019.
Instead, BJP went with Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, the sitting MLA and one of the 10 Congress defectors who joined the Pramod Sawant government in July 2019.Sawant has been declared as a candidate from Sakhali, a constituency that he has been representing since 2012.

“Utpal Parrikar or Manohar Parrikar’s family is our family. They are very close to us. We had given two other options to Utpal from where he could contest. He has already declined one of the options and discussions are on for the second option. We all feel that he should agree. BJP has always given respect to the Parrikar family,” Goa BJP election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said.
This is the second time that BJP has refused a ticket to Utpal in Panaji. In 2019, when the seat fell vacant after the demise of Parrikar, BJP had given candidature to Parrikar’s close aide Sidharth Kuncalienker for the bypoll.

He lost to Monserrate, who had contested on a Congress ticket.
Candidates in the remaining six constituencies would be announced in the second list, which is expected to be released within the next couple of days. To elect the 40-member House, Goa goes to polls on February 14.
Aiming at giving representation to various communities, BJP has fielded three candidates from scheduled tribes who will contest on general seats, two candidates from scheduled castes, one of whom will contest on a general seat, 11 candidates from other backward classes (OBC) and nine seats have been given to Catholic candidates.
BJP that had made ‘Family Raj’ a poll plank in 2012, for the first time in Goa, gave tickets to two couples—Jennifer and Atanasio Monserrate and Deviya and Vishwajit Rane. Jennifer, who is also the revenue minister, will contest from her current seat of Taleigao.
Health minister Vishwajit Rane will defend his Valpoi constituency, while wife Deviya will contest from the neighbouring Poriem, which has been represented by her father-in-law and Congress veteran Pratapsingh Rane. He was recently given a lifetime cabinet status by the BJP government in the state.
“Sometimes, these are occupational hazards,” Fadnavis said on tickets being allotted to Monserrates and Ranes.
“Babush and wife Jennifer were both elected as MLAs and then they both joined BJP. She has her own identity and is also a cabinet minister in the BJP government,” he said.
As for the Ranes getting the ticket, Fadnavis said Vishwajit had resigned from Congress and joined BJP and had won the Valpoi seat on the party ticket.
“The Poriem seat was represented by Pratapsingh, who has continuously got elected for the past 50 years from that constituency on a Congress ticket. Congress has never lost that seat. We told him that the Congress graph is going down, and this time he should either contest on a BJP ticket or help BJP. He said he was too old to contest and instead Deviya will contest,” Fadnavis said, justifying the party’s decision to give Vishwajit’s wife the ticket.
When asked if BJP and Congress have an understanding on the Poriem seat, Fadnavis said, “Congress will contest that seat. But we will defeat them.”
Congress has already declared Pratpsingh Rane as their candidate from Poriem, but hours after the announcement, Rane had said he was not taken into confidence by the party giving broad hints that he may not contest the elections.
BJP also dropped PWD minister and Sanvordem MLA Deepak Prabhu Pauskar and WRD minister and Velim MLA Filipe Nery Rodrigues, while giving candidature to former social welfare minister and Mormugao MLA Milind Naik, who had resigned from the cabinet over an alleged sex scandal.
Pauskar has been dropped over his alleged involvement in Rs 70-crore job recruitment scam in PWD, while Rodrigues had already indicated that he would not contest on a BJP ticket.
BJP has fielded former MLA Ganesh Gaonkar and journalist Savio Rodrigues from Sanvordem and Velim, respectively
To counter anti-incumbency and resentment, BJP has shifted deputy chief minister and Pernem MLA Manohar ‘Babu’ Ajgaonkar to Margao to take on leader of opposition Digambar Kamat.
BJP has also preferred to deny candidature to Canacona MLA and deputy speaker Isidore Fernandes and instead has given the ticket to former sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar to woo the ST voters in the neighbouring constituencies of Sanvordem, Sanguem and Quepem, among others.
In the 2017 assembly election, BJP had lost these constituencies after Tawadkar was denied candidature.