BJP Faces Rebellion In 4 Goa Seats, Including Panaji, Ahead Of Polls

Goa polls 2022: Panaji, Mandrem, Sanguem and Cumbharjua are the four Goa seats in which the ruling BJP is facing a rebellion.

The ruling BJP has managed to contain dissent in most areas in the run up to the Goa Assembly polls scheduled for February 14, but four seats, including the prestigious Panaji constituency, continue to be a cause for worry.

In Panaji, Utpal Parrikar, the son of former chief minister and BJP's tallest leader from Goa so far late Manohar Parrikar, is up as an Independent against the ruling party's Atanasio Monserratte, who had quit the Congress in 2019.

Utpal Parrikar has claimed his heart continues to be with the BJP but he was contesting to ensure a "wrong person", possibly a reference to the serious cases registered against Mr Monserratte in the past, does not get elected from a seat his father represented for several terms.

In Mandrem, former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who was the BJP's manifesto committee head, has quit the party and is contesting as an Independent against Dayanand Sopte, who had beaten him as a Congressman in 2017.