MGP spurns BJP, sides Congress

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), part of the Congress-led government in Goa, is understood to have dropped its plans to tie up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the March 3 assembly elections.

Both the Dhavlikar brothers, who are ministers in the Goa government on behalf of the MGP, made a quiet trip to Delhi two days ago to convey to a top Congress functionary that they would like their party to be part of the Congress-led alliance in the elections.

Sources said they also had a meeting with Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel to assure him that the MGP , that they have kept afloat after most its leaders deserted it, has no truck with the BJP and that is why they did not resign as ministers when reports of the MGP-BJP alliance started making headlines.

As regards the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party  (NCP) alliance in Goa that is expected to be formalised here on Friday, the Congress sources said the party would not give more than six seats to the NCP, particularly after former Chief Minister Wilfred D’souza is no longer with it to sway the Catholic votes.