Panaji, Mar 23 (TOI): Deputy chief minister and Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai was saved from an awkward situation on Friday when party vice-president Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate announced he would contest the Panaji seat as an independent candidate.

Sardesai said Monserrate hadn’t discussed his plans to contest the Panaji bypoll with him. “I don’t want to talk about it, but he saved me from the predicament faced by our alliance partner in Shiroda,” Sardesai said. GFP is an alliance partner of the BJP-led government.

Contrary to claims by BJP leaders that MGP had agreed not to field a candidate in Shiroda, which is heading for bypolls on April 23, MGP president Pandurang ‘Deepak’ Dhavalikar, who has been actively campaigning even before the poll schedule was announced, has not stated that he would not contest.

While political observers feel that Monserrate quitting GFP to contest the bypoll would be a loss to the young party, Sardesai said that bypolls were not the time to evaluate losses and gains.

The Panaji seat fell vacant after the death of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar on March 17. He had represented the constituency six times since 1994.

Monserrate’s attempt to wield supremacy in Panaji failed when he contested the 2017 assembly election. Monserrate, who contested on a United Goans Party (UGP) ticket, lost to BJP’s Sidharth Kuncalienker by 1,069 votes even as the Corporation of the City of Panaji was then ruled by a panel backed by him.