In 1994, BJP's Manohar Parrikar, who went on to become Goa chief minister and the country's Defence minister, won his maiden assembly election from Panaji seat, wresting it from the Congress, which the latter could never win in the last 25 years.
But this time, Parrikar's absence has brightened the hopes of the opposition party.
The May 19 by-election to the Panaji seat, necessitated after Parrikar's death in March, is turning out to be a battle of prestige for the Congress and the BJP, as the parties are leaving no stone unturned to come out on top.
The BJP has fielded former MLA Siddharth Kunkolienkar, who had earlier represented the constituency in the absence of Parrikar in 2015 and 2017, during the latter's stint as the defence minister in the Modi government.
The Congress has given ticket to former state minister Atanasio Monserratte.
All these years, the BJP had managed to hold grip over the Panaji seat and Parrikar's charisma was one of the major factors. After his death, there was a talk that the BJP was considering fielding Parrikar's elder son Utpal from the seat. However, the party finally chose Kunkolienkar.
State minister Mauvin Godinho had Thursday said the BJP's top brass might have denied the ticket to Utpal to avoid the charge that the party was promoting "family raj" (dynastic politics).
In the 2017 Goa assembly election, Kunkolienkar had defeated Monserratte, who was in the fray as an independent candidate supported by Congress.
Talking to PTI, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar said that had the BJP fielded Utpal Parrikar, the Congress would have faced some difficulty.
"With Utpal in the contest, the fight would have been difficult for us. Not that we would have lost the election, but difficulty level would have been certainly high. Now, its an easy run for us," he said.
After the by-election to three other assembly seats in Goa- Shiroda, Mandrem and Mapusa- and two Lok Sabha seats in the state held on April 23, the Amit Shah-led party is putting all its strength in Panaji constituency with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other leaders camping here round-the-clock.
The chief minister is seen mingling with the morning crowd at Mirmar beach several times, a gesture that might help the party to win.
The issues of infrastructure development, removing off shore casinos from the Mandovi river, providing uninterrupted water supply are dominating the campaign.
While the Congress is targeting Kunkolienkar over the alleged corruption in the 'Smart City' project funded by the Centre, the BJP is raising the issue of criminal cases, including rape, registered against Monserratte.
In May 2016, Monserratte had been booked for allegedly raping a girl. He is also facing a case of leading a mob that stoned Panaji police station in 2010.
In a veiled reference to the cases registered against Monserratte, Sawant said, "It's a fight between a person with character and someone characterless."
He said the BJP has a strong presence in the constituency and the party will comfortably win the seat.
"People will vote for the BJP as a mark of respect for Parrikar and his vision for development, which we are taking forward," he added.
Talking to PTI, Monserratte accused the BJP of raising false issues.
"I was framed in both the cases. I know who framed me. And I will expose them in the due course of time. Both the cases are before the court and I have full faith in the judiciary," said the former minister, who held town and country planning portfolio in Manohar Parrikar-led cabinet between 2002-2005.
He was also the minister in the Pratapsinh Rane-led and Digambar Kamat-led governments.
BJP leaders claim that they are confident of retaining the seat, which has 22,000-plus voters and of whom 15,000 had turned up for voting in the last assembly election.
"We have our target fixed. We want to poll 10,000 votes and that will give us a winning margin. We are confident of getting it," Kunkolienkar said.
He said that Parrikar's charisma and the developmental works undertaken by the BJP-led government in the state would propel the party towards victory.
Apart from the two major parties, former chief of the Goa unit of RSS, Subhash Velingkar, is also in the fray on Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) ticket.
GSM is a political outfit mentored by Velingkar when he fell out from BJP.
Velingkar, a former aide of Parrikar, could be a major factor for the polls as he has been active in the constituency for over three decades and was part of Parrikar's team to chart out election strategies.
Velingkar is likely to eat into BJP's votes.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
