PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's father Pandurang Sawant has said his family and his son are not new to being called "outsiders", but it does not disturb them.
CM Sawant, who will turn 50 on Monday, has often been labelled by some political and social activists as an "outsider" belonging to Sawantwadi in neighbouring Maharashtra.
The chief minister's father, a former functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told PTI that his family has no connection with Sawantwadi and they have been living in Kothambi village of North Goa for the last four generations.
"My grandfather came here during his childhood from Undir village in Ponda (South Goa) where some of our family members still live. Our ancestral place is Parse in Pernem taluka of North Goa," he said.
"When my son was chosen to contest the election on the BJP ticket for the first time in 2008, we faced a similar agenda. Someone went and told (BJP leader) Manohar Parrikar that Pramod Sawant is an outsider," Pandurang Sawant said, while lauding Parrikar for training his son in administrative skills.
Pramod Sawant, a doctor and three-time MLA from Sankhalim in North Goa, first won the state Assembly poll in 2012.
He was first sworn in as the chief minister in 2019 after the demise of then CM Parrikar.
He started his second term as the CM in 2022 after the BJP won the state Assembly polls.