MGP protective of its prospective candidates

‘Our 12 potential nominees are being pressurised to join BJP’

Panaji: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party is feeling the heat of the forthcoming state assembly elections, with its candidates being allegedly pressurised by the Bharatiya Janata Party to leave the MGP and join the BJP, or refrain from contesting the polls.

The MGP had recently taken 12 of its prospective candidates to Belagavi, so as to keep the flock out of the reach of the local BJP leaders.

These 12 candidates have now returned to Goa.

“The 12 prospective candidates were taken to Belagavi so as to impress upon other political parties the solidarity among them,” said MGP sources, adding that although there is no official announcement as regards these candidates contesting the 2022 assembly polls on the MGP candidature, they have already started the groundwork in the respective constituencies.

These candidates are Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar (Madkai), Pandurang ‘Deepak’ Dhavalikar (Priol), Naresh Sawal (Bicholim), Jit Arolkar (Mandrem), Pravin Arlekar (Pernem), Premendra Shet (Mayem), Mahesh Satelkar (Aldona), Ketan Bhatikar (Ponda), Sanket Naik Mule (Shiroda), Vinayak Gauns (Sanvordem) and Anand Prabhudesai (Curchorem). 

The twelfth candidate is expected to be from Mapusa constituency; however the MGP has not revealed the name of the candidate. 

The sources maintained that the BJP leaders in Goa have become jittery after looking at the line-up of the MGP candidates, and somehow wants to dissuade these candidates from contesting the 2022 polls.

“Interestingly, the senior national BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari is in favour of the MGP-BJP pre-poll alliance, and is in constant contact with the MGP leadership,” the MGP sources maintained.

The MGP central committee however doesn’t want to compromise on the decision to field its candidates in 12 constituencies. Irrespective of the political party with which it has a pre-poll alliance, the MGP wants to have the share of the above 12 constituencies.

The BJP, on the other hand, has its sitting MLAs in many of these 12 constituencies like Bicholim, Mandrem, Pernem, Mayem, Aldona, Shiroda, Sanvordem, Curchorem and Mapusa, and would possibly not give away these constituencies to the MGP.

The MGP sources further stated that the BJP is however not too sure as regards its sitting MLAs in these constituencies, winning at the 2022 assembly polls, and therefore, is intimidating the MGP candidates.

“Such coercing, would however not work,” they stated.

The central committee of the MGP is expected to reach the decision about MGP’s pre-poll alliance for the particular election by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Sadanand Tanawade categorically denied his party having pressurised the MGP candidates in any way.

“We have our own candidates, and our own problems,” he added, questioning as to how would the BJP admit the MGP candidates into its fold, and then field them in the respective constituencies as the BJP candidates. “We already have our sitting MLAs in these constituencies, from where the MGP wants to field its candidates,” he mentioned, informing that the allegations of MGP are absurd.

Tanawade said the state BJP unit is very comfortably placed as far as the 2022 state assembly elections are concerned.

“We have excellent organisation, best of network in the constituencies, and committed workers,” he maintained, stating that there is absolutely no need for the BJP to resort to machinations  such as intimidating rival party’s candidates.

The state BJP president further said that some people and some political parties are carrying out surveys and coming out with observations that the BJP candidates would lose in certain constituencies, during the 2022 polls.

“Unfortunately they are taking the political scenario in Goa during 2017 state assembly polls as the reference point, instead of keeping the political situation in the state in 2021 as the one,” he observed, mentioning that with such an erroneous reference point, one can easily understand that these surveys are nothing but ‘off-track’ assessments.

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