The fissures in the coalition government have always been there. But are we now seeing the beginning of the isolation of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) within the ruling dispensation? As the war of words increases, the regional party may have just bitten more than it can chew on, and the prognosis for the party is not looking good. A minister has gone ahead and challenged the party to withdraw from the coalition if it is unhappy.
On the day that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude told the MGP to stop blackmailing the coalition government, Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho played down the regional party’s attempts at one-upmanship saying that in a coalition problems are bound to happen. Though these statements came at different functions and in response to media queries, it has all the elements of the classic ‘good cop, bad cop’ scenario being played out by coalition partners to bring MGP into line, incidentally that is what Godinho even said, that all would toe the coalition line at the right time. Considering that Gaude is an Independent MLA and Godinho is a BJP MLA, this could almost appear to have been planned, but for the fact that these were spontaneous replies at different places.
There, however, is no doubt that the coalition partners are beginning to see through the MGP intimidation tactics that are aimed at gaining political brownie points. Gaude, for instance won from Priol constituency, defeating Pandurang (Deepak) Dhavalikar, who is now planning to contest from Shiroda. Dhavalikar, contesting from Shiroda would be a boon for Gaude, as it would make the minister’s bid for re-election at the next Assembly election easier, if Dhavalikar is to find a new constituency for himself. Personally, there is no reason for Gaude to critic the MGP or even take a dig at the party, at this juncture, he doing it openly is an indication that the coalition partners are beginning to get tired of the MGP posturing.
The fact is that the MGP has in the past few months issued several deadlines to the coalition government of which it forms an important segment, only to go back on them within a few days. Take for instance the events of the last two months. In November the MGP had set December 15 as a deadline to resolve the mining issue, failing which it would take appropriate decision, which actually meant a threat to pull out, as addressing mining dependents, the party president had said they would consider pulling out if there was no solution. When the deadline arrived, the party backtracked stating that it would take an appropriate decision. Weeks later, there has been no decision. Now, it has initiated the move to field its party president in Shiroda, where BJP hopes to win from and consolidate its position in the Legislature.
MGP had been in coalition with the BJP in the last term as well, but towards the end of the term of the Assembly, the MGP had gone on to become a critic of the government and withdrawn support just weeks before the election dates had been announced. The move had been to disassociate itself from the BJP in the elections. The manner in which the party is now conducting itself is reminiscent of that time, and appears to be a calculated risk it is taking should the State be propelled into a midterm poll, whereby it will be able to take the independent route in the polls.
The ‘appropriate decision’ of the MGP could well be a political decision for which it is building the ground with its statements. The weeks ahead as India comes closer to the Lok Sabha polls will provide the answer to what exactly MGP is planning.
