Two BJP leaders in race for Goa CM post

Amid speculations of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar being elevated as a Union minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party local unit will meet on Thursday to finalise a name for the state's top job.

According to party sources, Parrikar, who is currently in New Delhi along with Goa unit president Vinay Tendulkar and general secretary Satish Dhond, will arrive in Panaji to attend the meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Parrikar held a meeting with BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday amidst reports that he could get the defence portfolio in a Union cabinet reshuffle. Later in the night, he followed it up with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told reporters after the meet that they only discussed Goa issues.

“The state unit will meet to think over who should be next the next Goa chief minister and also discuss the candidate contesting the Panaji seat, which would fall vacant after Parrikar resigns to take up the bigger assignment,” a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

The party has not disclosed the venue of the meeting to avoid media attention.

The names of two veterans -- Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Speaker of Legislative Assembly Rajendra Arlekar -- are being considered for the top post, sources said.

Both the leaders have a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh background and have in the past headed the party in the state.

“I will go by what the party decides. I am not in the race. There is no race for the post. It would be the decision of the party,” Parsekar said.

Arlekar, on the other hand, said he has not yet been communicated anything about the CM's post.

“I have not been communicated anything. But if the party gives me any responsibility I will handle it to the best of my ability,” said Arlekar, an MLA from Pernem constituency who had led the BJP state unit in 2002 and 2012.

Parsekar and Arlekar are among the leaders who, along with Parrikar, laid the foundations of the BJP in the state, fighting against the regional Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Congress party.