PANJIM: Days after speculation of a split in the party, all three MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party appear to have sorted out their differences, but the news is not good for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
At a meeting, MGP has decided it would contest all four by-polls if BJP does not leave Shiroda for them. MGP president Pandurang (Deepak) Dhavalikar, who reportedly assured BJP national leaders of withdrawing from the Shiroda by-poll, said he cannot do so. “I am contesting the Shiroda by-poll,” the Jr Dhavalikar said.
Sanvordem MLA Dipak Pawaskar, who along with Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar almost split the party to join BJP, told the media that all the differences have been sorted out. “I feel the BJP must give the Shiroda seat to MGP and we will not contest the other three by-polls,” he said.
But, infighting among the party leaders has not ended and a crucial Central Committee meeting on Saturday is likely to turn stormy as Jr Dhavalikar is expected to be questioned on the unconditional’ letter of support given to the Dr Pramod Sawant government.
Following Jr Dhavalikar giving the letter, MGP’s central committee has written to the Speaker’s office requesting it not to entertain any letter from the party unless it is signed by the party general secretary.
The Central Committee meeting will mirror the happenings on the night when the decision to support BJP-led government was taken by coalition partners including MGP.
Some of the leaders claim that the ‘support letter’ to Sawant was doctored by the Jr Dhavalikar, due to which one of its MLAs, Pawaskar, missed getting a cabinet berth. The party also lost the opportunity to win over three chairmanships of different government-run corporations.
When contacted, Dhavalikar said that the Central Committee meeting will discuss ‘only issues related to the upcoming elections’. “We will take a call whether we should fight the rest of the by-elections, besides Shiroda and also both Lok Sabha seats,” he said.
But party leaders like general secretary Lavu Mamledar are waiting for the meeting to question Junior Dhavalikar on his action that they say is unbecoming of the president.
Mamledar said that the Central Committee had adopted a resolution of three ministerial berths and equal number of chairmanships, as a precondition to support Sawant-led coalition. “But the actual letter of support given to the government does not mention these conditions but instead claims that the backing for the coalition government is unconditional,” said the GS.
“Values of the Central Committee were not upheld. We would be questioning the president on it,” he said.
After what transpired on Monday night, Mamledar said that the Central Committee has written to the Speaker’s office and to the Deputy Speaker asking them not to entertain any letter from the MGP unless it is signed by the general secretary.
The letter was given on Friday by central committee members who wanted to adopt a water tight arrangement to ensure that they are not bypassed while taking crucial decisions.
Earlier in the day there was speculation that the MGP leaders expected that the meeting will discuss the proposal to drop Azgaonkar from the cabinet and replace him with Pawaskar. “Pawaskar has been pretty upset after what happened. He was expecting a cabinet berth but he was not given the opportunity,” a senior MGP leader said.
Azgaonkar, who was also a minister in the Manohar Parrikar government currently holds the portfolios of Tourism, Sports and Printing and Stationery.
