Chief minister among those involved in sorting out issue: Dayanand Sopte PANAJI: Former Congress MLA from Mandrem Dayanand Sopte said on Friday that he was confident his differences with former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar would be resolved in the next three to four days even as Parsekar upped his ante against the new BJP inductee.Senior party leaders will call for a joint meeting to sort out the differences between us, Sopte said when quizzed about the status of his relationship with Parsekar.Reacting to the news, Parsekar said, “I don’t have attitude I will meet them.”“Whatever has not happened will happen in the next three days. I’m confident the issue will be sorted out,” Sopte said.The chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a GTDC event.In the February 2017 assembly polls, Sopte, who contested on the Congress ticket from Mandrem constituency, defeated Parsekar with a huge margin of 7,000 votes. Parsekar had been lying low since his defeat. However, ever since the BJP inducted Sopte without informing him, in a move that diminished his political aspiration, Parsekar has taken an aggressive stance.The former chief minister has called the state party president Vinay Tendulkar “inefficient” and even demanded his removal. He has also demanded that the whole party structure be changed.A source speaking with an eye on the Mandrem bypoll said the differences that have cropped up in the BJP as a result of the Parsekar-Sopte and Parsekar-Tendulkar stand-off did not bode well for the either the party or Sopte, who will likely contest the byelection on the saffron party’s ticket. Parsekar, who has not revealed his plans so far, will not take things lying down, the source added.Asked about the steps he has taken to iron out differences with Parsekar, Sopte said he has not met Parsekar till now because of some restriction. It was not right to meet Parsekar till the problem was resolved, he added.He said senior party leaders, including chief minister Manohar Parrikar , will be involved in sorting out this issue. Asked if he wanted Parrikar to intervene, Sopte said, “I am trying my level best, but am not aware if the chief minister has already spoken to Parsekar.”Sopte said he had “no regrets” about joining the BJP when asked what he thought about his decision to leave the Congress today, a month after making the move. “I have a good experience with BJP,” Sopte said, who in the 2007 assembly elections won the Pernem seat on the BJP ticket. During the 2012 assembly elections, after Pernem constituency was reserved for SC candidates, he quit the BJP and joined the Congress.

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