HERALD: MGP had a pre-poll alliance with GSM, now they have conveniently joined BJP to form the government. What is your reaction?
ANAND SHIRODKAR: Even during the announcement of the pre-poll alliance with MGP, it had kept its options open and they never said they would not join the BJP again. For us that was a problem as MGP never made a statement that they will not join BJP. They always intended to join the BJP to stay in power. It is their style that once they win they want to be in power.
HERALD: MGP’s Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar has said that the pre-poll alliance with GSM cost MGP in the recent alliance?
AS: This is completely wrong and it’s the other way round. The MGP had come to us for their benefit as they thought they would get more seats but MGP’s stand was never clear on the issue of MoI, casinos. Even in their manifesto they failed to mention such issues as they always wanted to join the BJP. The people of Goa were shocked to see that these issues were not mentioned in their manifesto. Sudin also spoke to the media saying that as per the Supreme Court order, a party cannot fight elections on the matter of language. So it is completely wrong what Sudin said. MGP is no different from BJP and Congress.
HERALD: Was GSM consulted before MGP supported the BJP to form the government?
AS: MGP never consulted us before going ahead and supporting the BJP government. They just went and supported the BJP. They had to consult us as they had formed an alliance with us. We contacted Dhavalikar soon after the result; he never took our calls and the next day we came to know that they have joined hands with the BJP to form the government. They never let us know anything and without our consultation they extended support to the BJP. Now this month we will have a common minimum programme meeting, we will see if MGP attends it but we are sure that Shiv Sena is with us.
HERALD: Your candidate in Panjim performed very badly, why?
AS: One reason we feel is that the machines were tampered with so that BJP can take the benefit. In all four constituencies we contested we got less votes which is not possible. We had the support of 1500 karyakartas and they say they have voted for us, so if they have voted for us, where are those votes? We have got only 323 votes. Now we might move the court on this issue and currently we are in touch with experts and they have said the machines can be rigged. There is another factor which has led to the downfall but at present I cannot disclose it.
HERALD: What is the future of GSM after Subhash Velingkar dissolved the RSS unit and merged it back to the parent organization?
AS: Velingkar will continue to fight for the issue of MoI and the future of GSM is bright. We will continue to contest elections in the coming years, there is no stopping us, it’s not that the party was formed only to contest in 2017. It was formed keeping in mind the future. Our main aim in contesting these elections was not to win any seats but to hurt the ruling BJP in terms of total vote share and we have been successful in doing so. We have managed to steal 10,745 votes which always used to go in favour of the BJP. If you see Sanquelim, GSM was runner up, so this is an excellent sign for the party as whole.
