Devendra Fadnavis snubs Manohar Parrikar's son over Assembly poll ticket

In a clear snub to former chief minister Manohar Parrikar's elder son Utpal, BJP's election in-charge for Goa and Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that merely being Parrikar's son does not guarantee an Assembly election ticket in the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"Manohar Parrikar did a lot of work to establish the BJP party in Goa. But just because you are Manohar Parrikar's or anybody's son doesn't mean you will get a BJP ticket," Fadnavis told a press conference in Panaji on Wednesday.

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"If he/she has the work to show for it then we think about it. But a decision regarding this is not taken by me. It will be taken by the Parliamentary board," Fadnavis further said.

Utpal was tipped to contest the Panaji assembly seat on a BJP ticket in 2019 after his father Manohar Parrikar died in office. But he was denied a ticket at the last minute, even as Utpal charged the state BJP leadership of deviating from the principles laid down by his father, the tallest BJP leader in the coastal state.

The ticket was eventually given to a Parrikar aide Sidharth Kuncalienkar, who lost the elections to Congress candidate Atanasio Monserrate. Incidentally, Monseratte defected to the BJP along with nine other MLAs soon after his election and is currently tipped to contest the Panaji seat on a BJP ticket.

Even as Utpal Parrikar has been lobbying with top central BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, for the Panaji ticket, Fadnavis said that he was not privy to the conversation between the two.

"I don't know what transpired in the meeting between Utpal and Amit Shah. I believe they met just yesterday. I can speak only if I know what happened in the meeting," Fadnavis said.

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