PANJIM: Simmering differences within the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) over the leadership of Pandurang (Deepak) Dhavalikar, and the increasing clout of the Dhavalikar brothers in the oldest regional party, are spilling out into public domain.
The alleged communication gap and the ‘dictatorship’ of the Dhavalikar brothers – Ramkrishna (Sudin) and Deepak – have disappointed many senior leaders of the party. The recent 15-member Central Committee meeting which saw some senior leaders refusing to hand over the ‘minutes book’ to the party president is an indication of the undercurrents in the party.
Former police officer and senior party leader Lavu Mamledar was the first to open the lid and let out the frustration in public. Two months ago, he threatened to expose Deepak and since then has been doing whatever possible to make good the promise. Interestingly, Mamledar is less upset with Sudin, the elder amongst the Dhavalikar brothers.
“There are two kinds of leaders in MGP. Ones who abide by Deepak because they are taken care of by him, and others like me, who refuse to bow down to the diktats and have self respect,” Mamledar, a former DySP, who voluntarily resigned the force to join politics through MGP, said.
One reason for his dissent, he says is the increasing closeness of the Dhavalikar brothers to the BJP. “Deepak wants to monopolise the party. He wants to merge it with BJP which we are opposing,” he said.
The rift in MGP had its birth on March 11, 2017 when their leaders offered to support the Manohar Parrikar-led government. Mamledar said that the Central Committee was kept in the dark about this and Deepak signed the letter on his own, which makes the support unconstitutional. “That was the first indication that Deepak wants to merge the party into the BJP,” he said.
While sporadic attacks within the party will continue, the test of strength will take place during the upcoming election for the post of president, slated for December 2019, after the Lok Sabha polls.
When questioned on this, Mamledar refused to say whether his camp would be working to defeat Deepak. “The people are with me because I am fighting for the survival of the party. I am not into any revenge politics or anything. Party is close to my heart and if required we will let Deepak continue in the chair,” he said.
Another Central committee member Mahesh Panshekar feels that the “communication gap” between the party leaders post the 2017 elections resulted in the current situation. “There is no rift. There are some misunderstandings. There is no opposition for Deepak as a president though some of his decisions might not be liked by the members,” he said.
Panshekar, however, admits that some of the new entrants in the party are creating some kind of confused situation as they are “young” and “ambitious”. The leader was specific about Ketan Bhatikar who had argued with the senior leaders during the central committee meeting.
“Deepak is the undisputed leader of the party. The people who became presidents of the party in past had sold the party. Deepak has kept it growing,” he said.
Another senior party leader on the condition of anonymity said the party has been facing a challenge to balance between the senior leaders and juniors. “It’s good that young blood is joining the party. But they have to be MGP workers and not Dhavalikar workers,” he said.
Sudin, however, rubbished the differences and said, “There is no issue with Lavu. He is in the MGP, he is our man and is working very well for the party. The party is very strong, nobody should feel that there are any differences in the MGP.”
