Utpal Parrikar, the son of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Gomantak Times
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party held a meeting of workers from the Panaji constituency, Utpal Parrikar, the son of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Wednesday indicated that he would contest from the Panaji in the upcoming 2022 Goa assembly elections.
Utpal took to Twitter to indicate with a single-line tweet that he would be contesting as an Independent candidate.
"Now no looking back....," he tweeted.
During the BJP Panaji workers meet, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the sitting legislator, Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate would win in the polls, hinting that he would be given the BJP ticket for the Panaji seat.
Earlier in October 2021, Utpal Parrikar had staked claim to the former Union minister’s legacy and urged the BJP to field him from Panaji. In November, Utpal reiterated his intentions to contest from the Panaji seat on a BJP ticket during his visit to Mahalaxmi temple with his supporters.
In the 2019 Panaji by-poll elections, which was necessitated due to the death of Parrikar. Utpal wanted to contest the by-poll. However, the BJP at the time denied him candidature and chose to field Sidharth Kuncalienker instead. The BJP lost the seat for the first time in 25 years to Atanasio Monserrate who was then with the Congress.
