BJP's Laxmikant Parsekar might go it alone in Mandrem bypoll
Former Goa Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar today hinted that he could contest the upcoming Mandrem Assembly bypoll in Goa as an Independent candidate if his party refused to give him a ticket. The bypolls in Mandrem and Shiroda constituencies were necessitated after Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar resigned from the Goa Assembly and joined the ruling BJP in October 2018.
Party-workers want me to contest bypoll as an Independent: Parsekar
"I have been traditionally contesting from this constituency. Party workers want me to contest the bypoll. They feel if the BJP does not give me a ticket, then I should stand as an Independent," Parsekar said. He said he had met BJP state general secretary Satish Dhond and asked him to carry out a survey to check the party's chances of winning Mandrem seat.
Party candidate selection process hasn't started yet: Goa BJP Chief
Without naming Dayanand Sopte, the former Goa CM said that local party workers had not accepted the "new person". Incidentally, Sopte, who was with the Congress before, had defeated Parsekar in the 2017 Assembly polls. When contacted, Goa BJP chief Vinay Tendulkar said the process to select a party candidate for Mandrem and Shiroda constituencies had not yet started.
