PANJIM: The BJP-MGP marriage of convenience and compromise appears to have reached a point of no return but insiders feel there is one man who can still salvage the alliance.
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, also the former BJP national chief is the party’s Goa in charge and incidentally enjoys a very good relationship with the Dhavalikar brothers.
Senior Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar, was in Delhi this weekend, attending the marriage of Gadkari’s daughter.
Sources said, Gadkari has great influence over Sudin and Dipak Dhavalikar and only he can avert any threat of separation between the alliance partners. Sources also stated that despite the busy schedule Sudin had a meeting with Gadkari.
Sources in the MGP said the meeting with Gadkari, was non-political and that he met the Union minister to discuss work relating to his ministry. Sources, however, said that Gadkari will soon be in Goa to take stock of the situation.
“It was Gadkari who had sanctioned projects worth thousands of crores for Goa and Sudin has acknowledged these efforts publicly,” sources said adding, “In the past too there have been turbulent times for the alliance but Gadkari has been able to bring things under control.”
According to sources, Parsekar’s abrupt decision of banning recruitment in all government departments did not go well with the MGP. Not only this, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parskear was also reportedly initiating steps to make Transport Department “cashless”.
“Recruitment was underway for about 600 posts in PWD alone and this abrupt decision has not gone well,” sources said. Sources added, “The decision on making Transport Department cashless also did not go well.”
After this decision, there were two cabinet meetings and the Dhavalikar brothers skipped both. “This makes it amply clear the two were very upset,” sources stated.
