MGP chief says govt trying to push through unbalanced development

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party president PANDURANG ‘DEEPAK’ DHAVALIKAR says the BJP-led government in the state has been trying to push unbalanced development. In an interview with SOIRU VELIP, Dhavalikar says the party may come to a decision on a pre-poll alliance three months before the 2022 assembly elections, if like-minded parties come forward

Q: How has the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party been preparing for the ensuing Goa assembly elections to be held in the next six-seven months?

The MGP began preparations for the assembly elections long back. I along with our party’s executive committee members and other leaders have been meeting our party workers and taking feedback from them on the prevailing situation in various constituencies in view of the assembly polls. We have already taken a review and carried out a survey of 12 assembly constituencies where the MGP has a strong base. Now, we are going to another 10 constituencies soon. I am happy to share that two-three aspirant candidates each have approached the party for the 12 assembly constituencies. After short listing the names by the central committee, the parliamentary board of the party will finalise candidates for the concerned constituencies.

Q: Will the MGP contest the assembly polls independently, or will it go for pre-poll alliance with any political party?

As of today, we are preparing to fight the assembly elections independently. However, a decision on a pre-poll alliance may arrive three months before the elections if like-minded parties come forward. We have taken a review of many constituencies wherein the MGP has become convinced that the people of Goa are fed up with national parties as they have totally failed to deliver. One thing I would like to clearly tell the people of Goa that the MGP will not tie a pre-poll alliance with national parties like the BJP and the Congress for the next assembly elections. In the 2017 assembly elections, the MGP got around 12-13 per cent vote share and succeeded in securing three seats. In the 2022 assembly elections, the MGP has set a target to secure 35 per cent votes.

Q: It is a known fact that except for 17 years after Goa’s Liberation and during two terms – from 2007 to 2012 and 2012 to 2017 – MLAs who had won the elections on party tickets defected to other political parties. So, this time how the MGP will ensure that its choice of candidates for the 2022 assembly polls will be perfect and MLAs elected on party ticket will not dump it and defect to other parties?

Yes, it is true that earlier the Congress party was damaging the MGP by taking away our MLAs, and now the BJP is doing it. But, today the Congress is almost finished and the same fate will be of the BJP from the next assembly elections. We strongly feel that anti-defection law under the 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution needs to be stronger. As far as the MGP is concerned, we are deliberating on bringing in a strong mechanism within the party wherein elected

MLAs of the party will not be able to split and defect to other political parties in the middle of the five-year term.

Q: What are the issues that will be on the agenda of your party in the next assembly elections?

For more than two years we have seen that the current BJP government has totally failed on all fronts, and it has no vision for Goa. The Pramod Sawant government is not bothered about safeguarding the interest of people and the state of Goa. The BJP government has been trying to put up various destructive projects against the wishes of the people. It may be the coastal zone management plan issue or three linear projects in the Mollem wildlife sanctuary, railway double tracking, or any other projects proposed by the state government; these are harmful for Goa. You can see how this government has been trying to push unbalanced development. It is quite clear that the Sawant government is interested in protecting the interests of its ministers and MLAs. On the COVID-19 management, initially the government had totally failed. After the media, Opposition parties and people voiced out against this mismanagement the government started taking measures to arrest the spread of COVID. Today Goa has very less number of COVID cases because of the media and people of the state. The government cannot take credit for this. Livelihoods of the people have been affected, artists have been facing serious problems due to the COVID pandemic and the government has totally failed to give relief to them.

Q: What are the issues that will be resolved on priority, if your party comes to power after the next assembly elections?

If voted to power, the MGP government will give free power and water to the poor people living in rural areas. Our focus will also be on employment generation besides resolving issues of the Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, traditional sand operators, Internet connectivity across Goa, tourist taxi operators, giving relief to common man through various pro-people initiatives.

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