‘Dynasty’ and the perpetuation of ‘family rule’ have figured prominently in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election offensive, helping him pillory the Gandhis and more recently the Abdullahs and Muftis in the Jammu leg of his campaign. But in Goa, the BJP is currently up against a curious dilemma: will it encourage Utpal Parrikar’s claim to his father’s political legacy, or will he be denied the ticket for the by-election to Manohar Parrikar’s seat to make a moral point of it?Utpal, the older son of the former Goa chief minister, is currently campaigning for BJP’s Lok Sabha candidates. But he is also the “front-runner” – his media supporters claim – for the BJP nomination to contest the Panaji assembly seat that fell vacant after Manohar Parrikar’s death last month. The Panaji election will be held on May 19. Voting for the two Goa Lok Sabha seats and three other by-polls takes place on April 23.Also read: Not Just Congress, BJP and Regional Parties Play Dynasty Politics TooFrom a complete outsider to politics, diligently distanced from both party affairs and running of government by the former CM, Utpal has shot to political prominence in less than a month of Manohar Parrikar’s passing away. Soon after their father’s death, both Parrikar’s sons, Utpal and Abhijaat, made public their intent “to continue his legacy of service and dedication to the state and the nation”. The statement took family friends completely by surprise, giving the former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar a handle to take a dig at Utpal, saying he was “a thorough gentleman” but hardly “political material”. Velingkar who was once close to Parrikar said the former chief minister “had never nurtured his sons for a future in politics. He didn’t even allow them to set foot in the Sachivalaya.”But the 39-year-old Utpal who has a masters in engineering from the US and runs a business in manufacturing bone implants for the export market has proved a quick learner and politically astute to seize the day, aware no doubt as everyone is, of the BJP’s paucity of leaders in Goa post-Parrikar.Utpal Parrikar. Credit: Narayan PissurlekarUtpal’s first test will be getting the nomination. Will the Modi-Shah power centre be willing to field him in an election right away and invite criticism of perpetuating ‘family raj’, a slogan coined by the BJP itself to pin down the Congress in Goa’s 2012 election? Even if the BJP does indeed give Utpal the Panaji ticket, the bigger test will be to get past the main opponent, Babush Monserrate.With the Goa Forward Party (GFP), a partner in the BJP-led government, till a day ago, the unpredictable Monserrate is a veteran of many political contests and a well-travelled politician in the sense of changing parties at least five times. He’s won elections several times from other constituencies but lost out narrowly to the BJP in Panaji in March 2017. When Parrikar returned to head the Goa government in 2017, Monserrate withdrew from the contest in the June 2017 by-poll in what was seen as “match-fixing” to allow the former defence minister an easy contest against the Congress.Also read: Manohar Parrikar: A Legacy Marred by Political Compromises and U-TurnsBut this is a different ball game, Monserrate told The Wire. “Come what may, I will be contesting the Panaji seat.”Monserrate joined the Congress on Thursday to get the party’s nomination for the constituency. His campaign is already in top gear, he says. He scoffs at Parrikar junior’s legacy bid.Manohar Parrikar, he says, never mentioned his sons, and it was in fact former BJP MLA Siddarth Kunkolienkar who nurtured the constituency in Parrikar’s absence. Let the voters decide if they want to continue with the legacy or opt for development, which is lacking in the capital city, he says.Goa Forward Party’s Babush Monserrate. Credit: The WireWhat makes Monserrate a tough opponent is his grip on the city’s municipal corporation where his panel holds the majority. Parrikar had held the Panaji seat from 1994, but in two elections his margins of victory were a narrow 1,000-odd votes over the Congress, often necessitating backroom deals between the BJP leader and Monserrate.A small coterie within the BJP attempted to scuttle Utpal’s succession bid, putting out a letter that said “the party and some people need to be reminded of the fact that party which opposes ‘family Raj’ is trying the same family Raj in Panaji in lust for power” (the BJP claimed the letter was a plant by its political opponents). But some of the party’s dominant supporters believe Utpal could well benefit from the sympathy factor after Parrikar’s year-long battle with cancer.Also read: Congress Tries to Pre-Empt President’s Rule; Stakes Claim to Form Govt in GoaWhether he stands for elections next month or not, it is apparent that Parrikar’s son – political experience or not – is here for the long haul. And he is clearly eyeing a much larger role within the BJP. Earlier this week he took on NCP leader Sharad Pawar for saying that Parrikar had returned to Goa because he disagreed with the Rafale deal. “This is yet another unfortunate and insensitive attempt to invoke my father’s name…and speak lies,” he said, calling it “a new low in Indian political discourse”. In response to Velingkar’s jibe that he was a complete political novice, Utpal said he had watched his father work. The BJP in Goa had practically “grown in our house”, he said, adding that the party had now replaced his parents as family.
