become Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure lasted only until 27 February 2002. In 2001, the Parrikar government had turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the Hindu nationalist group Sangh Parivar, inviting criticism from certain educationists. On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and served another term as Chief Minister. On 29 January 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the Assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House. Pratapsing Rane of the Indian National Congress would subsequently replace Parrikar as Chief Minister. In 2007, the Parrikar led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Congress led by Digambar Kamat. BJP and their party-allies won twenty-four seats against the Congress' nine in the Goa Assembly Elections held in March 2012. In 2014, Parrikar drew criticism for approving a junket costing at least for six MLAs from the ruling party, including three ministers, to attend the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Indian National Congress termed the trip "wasteful expenditure" and criticized the lack of other government officials or soccer experts in the delegation. On 14 March 2017, Parrikar was sworn in as Chief Minister of Goa. Goa Forward Party led by Vijai Sardesai, one of the parties who allied with BJP in Goa after election results were announced, had said that it would extend support to the BJP only if Parrikar was brought back to the state as Chief Minister. Union Minister for Defence (201417) In the 2014 general elections, BJP won both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa. Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November 2014, by his own admission but was persuaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join central government. Parrikar was preceded by Laxmikant Parsekar as Goa's CM. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was a player in the state politics. In November 2014, Parrikar was chosen as the Minister of Defence replacing Arun Jaitley, who, till then, held additional charge of the Ministry. His entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party's candidate for the elected Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. Controversies In 2001, the Parrikar government turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of