Former Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar rejoins BJP ahead of Goa Assembly polls

Panaji, Nov 13 (PTI) Former Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who had quit the BJP in 2022, rejoined the ruling party on Friday in the presence of senior leaders.

The development came ahead of the Assembly elections, which are due before March next year.

State BJP president Damodar Naik, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other BJP leaders were present during Parsekar's reinduction.

Speaking to reporters, the former chief minister said he had been working for the BJP for most of his life, and had continued to work for the party even after leaving it. His formal return to the party fold made many people happy, he added.

Parsekar was the chief minister of Goa from November 2014 to March 2017. He had succeeded Manohar Parrikar after the latter became Defence Minister.

Earlier, he was a cabinet minister in the Parrikar-led government.

A three-time MLA from Mandrem, Parsekar joined the party in 1988 and held several organisational positions, including the Goa BJP president. Under his leadership, the party secured its first Assembly majority in Goa in 2012, winning 21 of the 40 seats.

But his differences with the party leadership came to the fore after the 2017 Assembly elections, when he lost the Mandrem seat to Congress' Dayanand Sopte by over 7,000 votes. Sopte joined the BJP in 2019.

In January 2022, Parsekar quit the BJP after the party renominated Sopte from Mandrem for the Assembly elections. At the time, Parsekar was heading the party's manifesto committee and was also a member of its core committee. He contested the election as an Independent candidate but lost.

In 2024, however, he extended support to the BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.

Welcoming his return, Damodar Naik said Parsekar's experience and guidance would strengthen the party and help it increase its vote share to 52 per cent in the next year's Assembly elections. PTI