'Will Resign from BJP': Ex Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar After Being Denied Ticket

The leader has indicated that he will formally issue his resignation by Saturday evening.

Laxmikant Parsekar. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo: Facebook.com/LaxmikantParsekarOfficial)

Former Goa chief minister and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Laxmikant Parsekar on Saturday, 22 January, said that he will resign from the party after he was denied a ticket to contest in the upcoming state Assembly elections.

Speaking to news agency PTI, the leader indicated that will formally issue his resignation by Saturday evening.

"As of now, I have decided to resign. What I should be doing next, would be decided later," Parsekar was reportedly quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the BJP has nominated sitting MLA Dayanand Sopte from Parsekar's former constituency, the Mandrem Assembly segment. In 2017, Sopte had defeated Parsekar as a Congress candidate, and subsequently defected to the BJP in 2019.

At present, Parsekar heads the BJP's manifesto committee for the upcoming Goa elections and is a member of the party's core committee.

He was the CM of the state between 2014 and 2017, and was selected for the position after then chief minister Manohar Parrikar was made the Union Defence Minister.

On Thursday, 20 January, the BJP had announced 34 candidates for the Goa Assembly elections.

Goa, which has 40 Lok Sabha constituencies, will go to polls on 14 February. The counting of votes will be held on 10 March.