PANJIM: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has not ruled out the possibility of its MLAs attending the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) meeting on the Medium of Instruction (MoI) in Ponda on Sunday.
Speaking on BBSM’s public meeting in Ponda on Sunday, MGP President Pandurang (Dipak) Dhavalikar said, “Our workers will be attending the meeting and if the workers feel that we should be with them, we will also attend the meeting.”
Stating that the MGP shares the BBSM ideology on MoI, Dhavalikar said, “MGP has always supported elementary education in Konkani or Marathi. Our stand continues. That is our policy decision though we are part of the BJP-led government.” The statement came after the party’s Central Committee meeting in Panjim.
BBSM has been targeting the government for failing to stop government grants to English medium schools. RSS members in Goa are also part of the BBSM and have criticised BJP and taken an oath to defeat the BJP in Goa.
Dhavalikar said their stand is in sync with BBSM which has begun a statewide agitation demanding that grants being given to the English medium schools be withdrawn. “MGP also feels that English medium schools should not be given grants,” he said.
MGP, which has three legislators in 40-member Legislative Assembly, is an alliance partner of the BJP and has two ministers in the Laxmikant Parsekar cabinet.
The MGP President said the decision on having a pre-poll alliance with BJP for the 2017 Assembly elections would be taken at a later date. “There is still time for the election. We will decide about it later (pre-poll alliance). May be somewhere in October we will take the call,” Dhavalikar said.
