His political career started in the year 1994, when he became an MLA in the Goa Assembly. He was the leader of the opposition from June to November 1999.
He became the Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure lasted only till 27 February 2002. On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and became the Chief Minister again.
On January 29, 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House.
Pratapsinh Rane of Congress replaced him as Chief Minister. In 2007, the Parrikar-led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Indian National Congress led by Digambar Kamat.
