Team Herald
PANJIM: Political circles were abuzz Monday morning speculating whether two MGP MLAs – Manohar Azgaonkar and Deepak Pawaskar – would switch allegiance to the BJP after the duo was seen huddled in the same hotel where the national party’s Central observers had checked in.
Sources revealed that both MLAs met the BJP Central team comprising National general secretaries B L Santhosh, Ram Lal and Goa in charge Vijay Puranik, just before the trio met the core-committee at the party head office. A Herald reporter at the hotel confirmed the presence of the two MLAs at the hotel.
There were apprehensions within the MGP that the two MLAs might abandon senior party leader Ramakrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar stripping him of his bargaining powers.
As news about the MLAs being in contact of BJP broke, there was panic in the MGP, forcing the party president Pandurang (Deepak) Dhavalikar to call for a media briefing, where both MLAs were present.
Interestingly, during the media briefing, Azgaonkar said that ‘Babu is where there is power’. “There is no question of joining any party for now. I am very happy where I am, that is MGP. Babu is always there where there is power and that is why I am today with MGP,” he said.
Azgaonkar, who is the Tourism Minister, preferred not to comment on his presence in the city hotel and dogged the question making it seem he hadn’t heard it.
On the other hand, Pawaskar admitted being in the hotel but claimed he had stayed there after a hectic day. “On Sunday evening, we had a meeting with BJP observers and then we had our internal meeting. We discussed a lot of issues. Since it was late and I was tired I preferred to stay back in the hotel. I stay many times,” he said.
“I come from Sanvordem and it was not possible to go all the back to Sanvordem last night, so I stayed back,” he said adding, “I did not meet any BJP leader in that hotel.”
Deepak Dhavalikar said that certain elements are spreading rumours about a split in party. “All our three MLAs and party members are united and will continue to fight united,” he said. “There was news that two MGP MLAs were in touch with BJP. I got several calls asking about this. Hence, we all three decided to call for a press conference,” he said.
