Staff Reporter

Panaji

A few of Goa’s prominent Lok Sabha candidates, who went on to chart a soaring political career, had made the switch to parliamentary elections after losing at the assembly polls. Termed ‘rehabilitation’ by their respective parties, it was done to keep their careers moving.

However, history also has a few names that made the move after a successful tenure as MLA.

Basically, the trend was to move from state politics to the Lok Sabha.

Be that as it may, there was one exception: former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. He did it the other way around and went on to succeed in state politics.

Decades ago, Erasmo de Sequeira, a prominent politician of his time, followed the same path, with the difference being that he was MP for two terms from South Goa and his forays into state politics didn’t bear fruit.

Many may not know that Parrikar contested the Lok Sabha election twice.

Around two years after being inducted into the BJP by the state RSS leadership, Parrikar took to electoral politics, vying for the North Goa constituency, then called Panaj constituency, in 1991.

He was just 35 years old then. The BJP’s presence was meagre, and apparently, the BJP’s support base was restricted to Sangh Parivar members and supporters. Until then, the BJP had gotten a maximum of 3,000 votes, which were polled by its candidate, G Y Bhandare, in the North Goa constituency.

Parrikar, with his young band of supporters and RSS workers, toured the length and breadth of North Goa, popularising the ‘Lotus’ symbol.

With his IIT engineer tag and strong anti-
Congress propaganda,
Parrikar polled nearly 27,000, and Goa woke up
to a “party with a difference”. It was just the
beginning for the saffron party in Goa.

Based in Khorlim-Mapusa, Parrikar had made a mark on the political canvas of Goa. A simple, chappal-wearing, intelligent politician with some sort of political craftsmanship had emerged on the Goan political horizon. Soon he was the most watched politician, earning even the admiration of the state’s senior politicians.

His performance of securing 26,988 votes was considered remarkable for a first-timer, considering there was a pro-Congress wave across the country.

There was a sympathy wave for the grand-old party of India following the killing of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi during his election campaign in Tamil Nadu. In view of this, Congress candidate Harish Zantye, who was then called the cashewnut king, won by a margin of 57,444 votes.

Three years later, the BJP, riding piggyback on the MGP, won four seats in the 1994 assembly polls. They included Parrikar from Panaji, present Union minister and North Goa candidate Shripad Naik from Marcaim, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat from Margao, and cashew distillery owner, Narahari Haldankar from Valpoi.

Soon, Parrikar tried to portray himself as a crusader against corruption, taking up issues one after another within two years of being an MLA. He contested the 1996 Lok Sabha polls, gaining more votes than in 1991.

Eventually, nearly two decades later, he landed in Parliament after making a full circle.

In 2014, after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, Parrikar was made defence minister, a very high position in the Union government. He went to Parliament as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.

Erasmo represented the South Goa constituency, then called Mormugao constituency, for two terms in the Lok Sabha, between 1967 and 1977. Known as a “man of letters”, Erasmo was first elected as MP at the age of 29.

Unlike his father, Dr Jack de Sequeira, who was Goa’s first opposition leader and considered the ‘Father of Opinion Poll’ for his contribution in opposing Goa’s merger with Maharashtra, Erasmo was not very lucky in state politics.

He contested the assembly election from Panaji in 1989 and 1994 on Gomant Lok Pox (GLP)

There were a few more candidates who unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary elections before trying their luck in state politics.