Team Herald
PONDA: Former PWD minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Saturday said that he did not regret fielding his brother Deepak for the Shiroda by-poll, over which he was dropped from the Cabinet, and that his fight against defection would continue till foolproof anti-defection law is enacted.
Sudin railed that despite the MGP extending unconditional support to the BJP, the saffron party split the regional party and dropped him from the Cabinet merely on the issue of Shiroda by-poll.
“BJP’s decision proved wrong and costly, for it was due to the MGP’s support to the Congress that BJP’s South Goa candidate Narendra Sawaikar was defeated, while their winning vote margin in North Goa dropped. BJP may not accept this, but this is the fact,” he said adding that Marcaim locals were angry that he was dropped from the Cabinet and hence voted against the BJP.
Analysing the voting patterns of 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he said that 2019 voting shows that Congress led in 10 constituencies. “If Congress and MGP jointly fight the elections, then the alliance will win 24 seats comfortably in Goa,” he said.
When asked whether his party would join hands with the Congress, he said that the decision on alliance has to be taken by MGP central committee.
Meanwhile, Sudin congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for coming back to power. He said that his fight was not against the BJP but against defection.
He said that defection erodes and lowers the standard of politics. “It affects existence of smaller parties. Therefore, we are against defection. I will bring in a Bill to this effect in the Assembly and also try to introduce a similar bill in Parliament so that MLAs or MPs do not defect from any political party,” he said.
He said that the Bill will ban an MLA or MP from contesting elections for five years for resigning and defecting to other political party.
He said that he would send this demand to Parliamentary Legislative wing as even Modi and Gadakari also have expressed similar views against defection.
“The BJP got 12,000 votes from Marcaim in 2014 election, but this time it got only 1,233, which is the winning factor for Congress. Though I supported the Congress, I did not go out to campaign against the BJP, but the irked voters of MGP in Marcaim expressed their ire against the BJP by voting for Congress,” he said.
Sudin said that wherever MGP had a base, the BJP performed worst.
“Mining issue affected little; it was due to the MGP factor that the BJP suffered major loss in South Goa,” he said.
When asked whether he would withdraw support to the BJP-led government, he said his party has given him full powers to decide on the issue.
“At the time of forming government, we gave unconditional support to the BJP. We are for constructive purpose. Just because BJP sacked me, I will not go against the government. My support will be for good work of government, and if the government works against the people, then I will oppose and withdraw support. Whether to withdraw support or not will depend on the situation and how the government works,” Sudin said.
He also appealed to the State and Central governments to solve the potable water issue all over India. “If the government fails to modernise Sanjivani Sugar Factory and fails to sort out water shortage faced by the sugarcane farmers, then I will lead an agitation,” he warned.
