arambol laxmikant parsekar has come a long way from school teacher and principal to health minister and chief minister the 57yearold who shares his birthday with usas independence day will shoulder goas political inheritance from outgoing chief minister manohar parrikar on his petite frame but dont let his nononsense schoolmasterly approach to his job fool you the second of three siblings laxmikant at 32 was a rebel albeit with a causethe bjp this line of the parsekar family having lost father yashwant while the children were very young was looked after by uncle ganpat parsekar a staunch supporter of the then very powerful regional outfit maharashtrawadi gomantak party mgp laxmikant a student leader and general secretary during his undergraduate days at dhempe college miramar plunged into the disciplined rss where he honed his political aspirations when the rightwing outfits political face the bjp entered goas politics laxmikant cast his dice the party was almost unknown in laxmikants home taluka of pernem when he entered the assembly fray in 1988 he lost his deposit worse still his family was staunchly backing the mgp the crisis he was creating at home notwithstanding the young teacher who went on to become principal of the same institute harmal panchakroshi arambol stuck to the saffron party offering to even leave home a decade later he contested the polls again once again he lost but this time mandrem constituency was aware of the bjp then in 2002 the fivefootsomething aspiring politician became a giant killer defeating mgps ramakant khalap a veteran legislator and onetime union law minister laxmikants political graph had begun to climb retaining the seat in 2007 and 2012 laxmikant was rewarded for his loyalty by the rss and parrikar by being made health minister and now chief minister the hardcore educationistlaxmikant is currently chairman of the same institute while wife smita is headmistresslists horticulture as his hobby but education also runs in his familyelder sister shashikala parab retired recently as headmistress younger sister sugandha bandkar is a teacher daughter shambhavi is pursuing bed from pune while son hrushikesh is studying law so what does laxmikant with declared assets of 1074crore in 2012 do when hes not busy with his political requirements cultural and social organizations commitments and the development of his horticultural farm in mandrem hes travelled to portugal paris and singapore so far