BJP has included land, drug mafia into party, will not get majority in Goa: Sanjay Raut

Flaying the BJP leadership ahead of the assembly polls in Goa, the Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a new face of itself in Goa by adding the land and drug mafia to the party. He also said that the party will not get the majority in the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

Flaying the BJP leadership ahead of the assembly polls in Goa, the Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a new face of itself in Goa by adding the land and drug mafia to the party. He also said that the party will not get the majority in the upcoming assembly polls in the state. He also commented on the resignations of ex-Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Utpal Parrikar, son of former Union Minister and chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar. He further said that both the former Chief Ministers had played pivotal roles in bolstering the BJP in the state.

But now Utpal Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar have left the BJP. The BJP has made a new face by including land and drug mafia in the party. I can give you in writing that BJP will not get a majority in Goa," said Raut to ANI. Utpal Parrikar, son of former CM Manohar Parrikar, resigned from the primary membership of BJP on Friday after the party denied him a ticket from Panaji constituency and fielded Congress party turncoat Atanasio "Babush" Monserrate.

After BJP snubbed him, Parrikar decided to contest the upcoming Goa election as an independent candidate on Friday. Earlier in the day, Utpal had said, "I will be contesting as an independent candidate from Panaji constituency. Panjim people voted for Manohar Parrikar all these years because he stood for certain values. I also have those values in me. The time has come for me also to stand up to those values." Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that the central leaders of the BJP was in conversation with Utpal Parrikar and had offered him two constituencies to contest the election in the upcoming Goa Assembly polls.

After being denied a ticket for the upcoming Goa Assembly polls, former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar resigned from the membership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday. Parsekar said he was a member of the BJP for years but the party took him for granted."The development work I have done in the last five years has been deliberately put on hold. Its grief is in my mind. That development work must be completed. So, I am going to resign from BJP this evening and am going to contest the election as an independent candidate. Devendra Fadnavis, BJP election in charge of Goa, also met me yesterday to appease me. But I am firm in my decision. I am not resigning just because Dayanand Sopte was given the ticket but there are many reasons.

The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Goa assembly election. Goa will go to the Assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)

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