Caretaker Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other BJP leaders paid tributes to former defence minister and state CM, late Manohar Parrikar, on his third death anniversary Thursday.
The event was held at Parrikar’s memorial near Miramar beach in Panaji.
Sawant said Parrikar will always be remembered by Goans “especially for his contribution to the development of Goa’s infrastructure.”
He also tweeted a picture of him with Parrikar and wrote: “Bhai (brother, Manohar Parrikar) has always been a source of inspiration, someone I could always look up to. He not only brought me into the political arena, but time and again guided me to serve the people with sincerity and impeccable integrity. On his ‘Punyatithi’ I offer my prayers in his remembrance.”
Sawant, who was joined by BJP President Sadanand Tanavade, was greeted at the memorial by Parrikar’s elder son Utpal and his family members.
Utpal quit the BJP ahead of the recently held Assembly polls after the BJP denied him a ticket from Panaji, the seat represented by his father five times until his death in 2019. He contested from Panaji as an Independent against BJP’s Atanasio alias Babush Monserrate, but lost by 716 votes .
Monserrate was also present at the memorial on Thursday.
Asked about his return to the BJP, Utpal told reporters: “These are technical things that will come before the people soon… I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I can never forget this debt of the people of Panaji and that is why I will continue to raise their issues.”
However, he said that he had no regrets about contesting the recent election as an Independent.
“It was my endeavour to ensure that a good person goes to the assembly from Panaji…I tried, with my thoughts and ideas I moved ahead, and got an enthusiastic response from the people. I am very happy and grateful for the support that I got. Even if I didn’t win, I have proved my winnability,” he said.
“I could prove my winnability because I contested as an Independent or else all my life I would have been told I don’t have winnability.”
Utpal further said. “If I had the lotus (BJP’s) symbol with me, I would have got 2500-3000 more votes. I would have almost touched 9,000, the same number that Baba (father Parrikar) would get. Everyone has seen, the seniors have also seen that I could have reached there.”