PANAJI, Oct. 20 -- Former Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, who has represented Mandrem, the North Goa coastal constituency, for three consecutive terms, left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2022 after the party chose to field Dayanand Sopte from the seat. Both of them contested the elections and lost the seat to Jit Arolkar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).

This time, Parsekar and his former rival Sopte have set aside years of bitter political feud to unite against Arolkar to reclaim Mandrem. In doing so, they are setting the stage for an escalating row between the BJP and its alliance partner, the MGP, ahead of next year's election.

The tug-of-war over Mandrem is one among several seat-sharing disputes expected to ...