Team Herald
PONDA: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP President Vinay Tendulkar were furious after MGP declared its support to Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.
While speaking at largely attended election meeting at Borim, Sawant said, “the Dhavalikar brothers had sold MGP which belonged to the Bahujans and first chief minister Bhahusaheb Bandodkar to its traditional rival Congress for their selfish gains. The party is now a company of Dhavalikar Brothers which is for their own benefits”.
The chief minister said, “the Bahujans of Goa since the past several decades were very fond of the ‘Lion’ symbol and elders voted for the ‘Lion’ considering it as a party which will protect their interests, but today the Dhavalikar brothers have sold it to Congress for their personal gains”.
Sawant said it won’t be surprising if the Congress candidate stopped campaigning at Shiroda and if advertisements appear in newspapers that Congress is supporting the MGP candidate.
“The former PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar was not removed by the BJP but the party was forced to sack him because they (Dhavalikar brothers) did not honour the promise given to us in the presence of Party President Amit Shah that only BJP will contest the Shiroda seat and that they wanted only the Deputy CM post. They did not honour the dharma of alliance and forced us to sack Sudin from Cabinet,” the chief minister said.
Justifying the act, Sawant said, “In Konkani there is a saying, ‘Asley Lok Tel Layat Gele’ (We don’t care for these people). However, when he was sacked from the Cabinet the move was welcomed by the people and many MGP supporters left the party. Today having sold the party to Congress, rest of the party supporters will also leave the party. It is the same party that insulted former Ponda Bahujan MLA Lavu Mamlatdar by sacking him from the party”, he said.
Sawant appealed to Shiroda voters not to fall prey to MGP.
Reacting to MGP’s decision, BJP President Vinay Tendulkar said, “it will not impact the poll prospects of BJP in any manner. BJP will win both North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats”.
