PANJIM: A month after threatening to pull out of the coalition government, the MGP has softened its stand on the mining issue with a rider that it would indeed take appropriate decision if BJP fails to resolve the mining issue at the earliest.

Its deadline of December 15 set for the BJP has now been postponed to the last week of December owing to the absence of three central committee leaders.

“We didn’t speak about withdrawing support, but to take appropriate decision or think of an alternative if the government fails to come up with a solution to resume mining operations in Goa,” MGP President Pandurang ‘Deepak’ Dhavalikar told Herald.

During a protest march at Ponda in November, Dhavalikar had asked the government to take a final decision on mining issue and that it should come out with an MMDR Act amendment in Parliament. Addressing the mining dependents, he had also warned that in case the government fails to find a solution by December 15, MGP would consider withdrawing support to the government.

Now with a ‘slight modification’ to its statement, the MGP has postponed its central committee meeting to the last week of December.

“It is wedding season now; and three of our central committee members are on leave to attend different marriage ceremonies. Once they are back, we will hold a meeting to take an appropriate decision as the government has till date failed to give any relief to the mining dependents on the resumption of mining,” he said.

The party president said they continue to support the mining dependents and had also participated in the three-day protest in Delhi last week.