Panaji: Former Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who quit the BJP in 2022 after being denied a ticket from the Mandrem Assembly constituency, rejoined the party on Friday in the presence of senior leaders.
Goa BJP president Damodar Naik, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other party leaders were present during Parsekar’s reinduction into the party.
Speaking to reporters after rejoining, Parsekar said he was ready to accept any responsibility assigned to him by the party.
He said he had spent most of his life working for the BJP and had continued to work for the party even after leaving it. He added that his return had made many people happy.
Parsekar served as Goa Chief Minister from November 2014 to March 2017, succeeding Manohar Parrikar after the latter moved to the Union Cabinet as Defence Minister. Before becoming Chief Minister, Parsekar had served as a cabinet minister in the Parrikar-led government.
A three-time MLA from Mandrem, Parsekar had been associated with the BJP for more than three decades. He joined the party in 1988 and held several organisational positions, including that of Goa BJP president. Under his leadership, the party secured its first Assembly majority in Goa in 2012, winning 21 of the 40 seats.
His political differences with the party leadership came to the fore after the 2017 Assembly elections, when he lost the Mandrem seat to Congress candidate Dayanand Sopte by over 7,000 votes. Sopte subsequently 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 subsequently contested the election as an Independent candidate.
In 2024, Parsekar publicly extended support to BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, expressing his desire to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi return to power at the Centre.
Welcoming his return, Damodar Naik said Parsekar’s experience and guidance would strengthen the party organisation and help it increase its vote share to 52 per cent in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Parsekar’s reinduction comes ahead of the 2027 Goa Assembly elections, in which the BJP is seeking to retain power for another term.
