BJP should not take me for granted: Laxmikant Parsekar
Panaji, Oct 30: As the ruling BJP is eyeing to field former Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte for the upcoming Mandrem Assembly bypoll in Goa, former state Chief Minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar Tuesday indicated that he might rebel against his party.
Sopte and another Congress MLA recently resigned as members of the Goa Legislative Assembly and joined the BJP, dealing a blow to the opposition party in the state.
Now, as the Congress started consolidating anti-BJP forces ahead of the upcoming bypoll in Mandrem Assembly, Parsekar said the BJP should stop taking him for granted.
His statement comes two days after Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Girish Chodankar met him at Mandrem, which the former had represented in the state assembly till 2017.
Parsekar had lost to Sopte from Mandrem constituency in north Goa in the February 2017 Assembly polls.
Earlier, Parsekar had criticised BJP's Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar for not taking him into confidence while inducting Sopte.
"I will not reveal all my cards now. There is a feeling in BJP that I will never rebel against the party or I will never leave it (party). Sometimes, your virtues act as negatives and that has happened in my case. But this time, the party should not take me for granted," Parsekar said.
Although he confirmed that Chodankar had met him, Parsekar refused to elaborate about the meeting.
"These days there are many people who come and meet me. Chodankar had also come. There were some discussions," he said.
Parsekar said the Mandrem block of the BJP still considers him (Parsekar) as the candidate from the constituency.
"Let the elections be announced. Let the candidates be announced...then I will reveal my stand," he said.
When contacted, Chodankar said the Congress has been meeting all the "anti-BJP forces".
"We are rallying against Sopte, who is the probable BJP candidate in the constituency. We will defeat him in the constituency and our exercise in that direction has begun," he said.
Chodankar also refused to divulge the details of the meeting with Parsekar, but said "everyone will come together to defeat the BJP candidate".
Parsekar, who was the chief minister of Goa between 2014 and 2017, is one of the oldest members of the BJP. He had joined the party in 1994.
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Stock market mayhem wipes out Rs 12.87 lakh cr from investors' wealth
New Delhi (PTI): Equity investors' wealth eroded by Rs 12.87 lakh crore on Thursday as stock markets went into a tailspin, with the benchmark Sensex plunging over 3 per cent, pressured by a spike in crude oil prices due to increasing attacks on energy infrastructure in West Asia.
Investors have lost over Rs 37 lakh crore since the West Asia crisis erupted on February 28.
Snapping its three-day winning run, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 2,496.89 points or 3.26 per cent - its biggest single-day plunge since June 2024 -- to settle at 74,207.24, a level not seen since April 7, 2025. During the day, it dived 2,753.18 points or 3.58 per cent to 73,950.95.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies dived sharply by Rs 12,87,273.89 crore to Rs 4,26,13,557.95 crore (USD 4.61 trillion) in a single day.
"Indian equity markets witnessed a sharp reversal today, breaking their three-day recovery rally and closing significantly lower, with benchmark indices declining by nearly 3.3 per cent.
"The sell-off was largely driven by a fresh escalation in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, where renewed strikes between Israel and Iran targeting critical oil and LNG infrastructure have reignited concerns over global energy supply disruptions," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, soared 6.21 per cent to USD 114 per barrel.
"The sharp rise in crude oil prices, driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East and concerns over supply disruptions, pushed prices closer to the USD 119 mark, adding to the negative sentiment. Furthermore, a hawkish stance from the US Federal Reserve, along with continued foreign institutional investor outflows, weighed heavily on market sentiment," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Eternal, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and InterGlobe Aviation were among the major laggards.
HDFC Bank dropped 5.13 per cent after its chairman, Atanu Chakraborty, resigned, citing ethical concerns.
BSE MidCap Select index tumbled 3.34 per cent and SmallCap Select index dropped 2.77 per cent.
All sectoral indices ended lower. Auto dived 4.07 per cent, followed by realty (3.79 per cent), financial services (3.66 per cent), consumer discretionary (3.62 per cent), BSE Top 10 Banks (3.53 per cent), industrials (3.49 per cent), services (3.44 per cent), BSE Focused IT (3.41 per cent) and consumer durables (3.38 per cent).
A total of 3,192 stocks declined, while 1,051 advanced and 161 remained unchanged on the BSE.
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