PANJIM: The cracks within the alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) came into the open on Thursday at Raj Bhavan during the swearing-in ceremony of Rajendra Arlekar in the Laxmikant Parsekar cabinet.
Shockingly, PWD Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar, who once, enjoyed the status of the number three leader in the ruling dispensation during former chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s regime, was conspicuous by his absence.
Officials close to the minister state that he is out of station on a personal visit, but there is much more to this very convenient absence. Sources in the MGP state that Sudin is upset with the BJP’s plans to strip him of either the PWD or the Transport portfolio and hand it over to the new minister Arlekar.
What was even more surprising was that Sudin’s brother and MGP president Pandurang (Dipak) Dhavalikar left the hall immediately after the swearing in and did not even wait to congratulate Arlekar.
It is pertinent to note that just before the announcement of Arlekar’s name for the cabinet berth there was speculation that Dipak would be dropped from the cabinet and another MLA from the BJP would be sworn in.
In recent times BJP workers have come out in the open against the MGP ministers stating they are blocking development works in the opposition constituencies. Taleigao BJP Mandal president Dattaprasad Naik has been quite vocal in his complaints against Sudin over corruption.
What has saved Sudin so far in the ministry, despite his departments – PWD and Transport – being in the eye of the storm due to corruption cases has been a strong backing from none other than Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
At one time when Parrikar, when he was chief minister, had gone abroad, he had handed over the charge of chief minister’s office to Sudin.
Sources say another reason for Sudin’s absence was that Arlekar was quite adamant on getting the PWD portfolio and the chief minister had almost decided to bifurcate the department and divide it between Arlekar and Sudin.
“At one time there was a situation when the CM had almost decided on bifurcating the PWD portfolios into two – Roads and Water supply,” sources said
Parsekar when asked to comment whether Arlekar would be given the PWD or Transport portfolio said, “We have not decided anything yet.”
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