PONDA: MGP President Deepak Dhavalikar said on Saturday that he and his party would not back off from the by-poll to Shiroda Constituency.
When pointed out that BJP President Vinay Tendulkar is frequently expressing confident that Dhavalikar would back out of the by-polls, Deepak said, “I have no plans to withdraw.”
“There is no question of withdrawal. If I withdraw, it would be cheating to my voters who have been vigorously campaigning since past more than 45 to 50 days. If Viany Tendulkar is dreaming that I would back out of the by-polls from Shiroda, then let him dream I can’t stop Vinay Tendulkar or anyone from dreaming. But as I had taken lead in the campaign, I can’t betray my voters,” he said.
He said that the Central Committee of MGP decided that he should contest the Shiroda by-poll. “I can’t change it and it is binding on me and so I will contest the Shiroda by-poll. Our fight is against defection and not against any party. Our government is stable and even if got elected I too will support the government,” he said.
When asked that being new to Shiroda constituency how would he convince the voters, he said, “I am not new to Shiroda voters. Five years ago I started my work here. And so far, I have campaigned for past 45 to 50 days in Shiroda and held more than 150 meeting; and visited the voters door-to-door. I have completed first round of campaign.”
He claimed that fearing the huge response for his campaigns, one of his main rival candidates is misleading the people about him.
He said that the whole Goa knows him and that was enough for him. “Voters are wise. These politicians failed to bring development for the past several decades and so are jumping to other parties,” he said.
“I am sure that I would emerge victorious with a lead of around 12,000 votes,” he said.
