Amid rumours of several BJP leaders keeping in touch with Cong, clear mandate keeps them with party but some say unhappy with leadership
Atanasio Monserrate, popularly known as Babush, defeated former CM Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal in Panaji
I am not happy with my victory, I think my own party workers have voted against me,” said BJP MLA Atanasio Monserrate, popularly known as Babush, who has emerged as a winner in Goa’s capital Panaji. The three-time MLA from a different constituency defeated BJP veteran leader and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s son Utpal, who went against the party and contested as an independent candidate, by a margin of only 716 votes.
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Sources have claimed that Babush is among the several BJP candidates who were in talks with the Congress and could have defected if the people’s mandate was different.
Babush is one of the 10 MLAs who defected from the Congress to the BJP in 2019. He said, “I am not happy with the margin. I feel that BJP voters have gone against me as there was no clear message from the party high command. I have given a clear message to them that had there been support, I would have defeated the opposite candidate by a huge margin.”
He denied the allegations saying, “I have never said that I am leaving the party. I am unhappy and have conveyed the same to the party top brass.”
Another BJP MLA who is believed to be in touch with the Congress is Vishwajit Rane. Rane too was with the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019. He is allegedly in a tussle with Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant over the chief ministerial post. He had, on March 8, even shared a photo with Congress’s DK Shivkumar, allegedly to send a message to his party leadership.
However, after the BJP got a clear mandate and he defeated Tukaram Parab of Revolutionary Goan Party by 8,085 votes from Valpoi, he said, “I am thankful to the people and that they relied on the leadership of PM Narendra Modi.”
Rane’s wife Deviya also won from Poerim constituency by defeating Vishwajit Rane of Aam Aadmi Party with the margin of 13,943 votes—the highest margin.
Speaking on the victory, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis told mid-day, “Such victories bring a lot of confidence to us and the booth workers. The people’s mandate is with the BJP across the country and this victory is a message for Maharashtra.”
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