2017 ASSEMBLY
ELECTION
MARGAO
Ahead of the 2017 Assembly election, Congress Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho on Friday said he would contest the coming election on the BJP banner, while exuding confidence that the BJP alliance partner MGP will leave Dabolim seat for the BJP in the husting.
He further said that MGP leader and PWD Minister, Sudin Dhavalikar appears to be either pretending or does not want to make public the understanding between the two alliance partners to leave Dabolim for the BJP. “The alliance partners have discussed the question of leaving the Dabolim seat for the BJP in the coming election. The MGP has agreed to leave the Dabolim seat for the BJP in the event either Bicholim or Mayem is left for the party. I am surprised that Sudin has made the statement that the MGP will not compromise on Dabolim when the alliance partners have agreed to leave the seat for the BJP. Either he is pretending that he does not know the decision or he is trying to keep his flock together," Mauvin said.
Mauvin told The Goan that his decision to join the BJP has been cleared by the party top leadership in Goa and Delhi, adding that it is just a matter of months before he formally embraces the ruling party on the eve of the 2017 election. “I have decided to contest the coming 2017 Assembly election on the BJP ticket. My decision to join the BJP has been approved by the local as well as the party’s top leadership. I will join the party on the eve of the Assembly election," he said.
There’s been no love lost between Mauvin and the MGP as he had won from Dabolim constituency after defeating the MGP candidate by a not so comfortable margin. Both Mauvin and Sudin were also involved in a spat in a not so recent past over the delay in making drinking water supply available to the SGPDA market vendors, with the SGPDA chairman even going to the extent of complaining to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar against the PWD Minister for putting spokes in the wheels of market development.
Mauvin, who presides over the affairs of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA), further told The Goan that he would be moving into his new office at New Vaddem by February. “Right now, I am functioning from my old office at Zuari Nagar. My new office at New Vaddem will start functioning from February," he said.
Replying to a question, Mauvin said he has been able to usher in the development of Dabolim constituency on account of his close ties with the ruling government.
That Mauvin had moved closer to the BJP became clear last year when he was appointed as the Chairman of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) by replacing party’s loyal soldier and Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s 60th birthday celebrations at Panaji on Deccember 13 gave further indications of Mauvin’s closeness to the BJP when the Congress MLA was one of the prominent speakers who showered praises on the BJP leader.
Though a section of the Congress leadership have called for action against the Dabolim MLA, including his expulsion, Goa Congress chief Luizinho Faleiro has ruled out the possibility of expulsion, saying that any decision to expel the Party’s Dabolim MLA will only benefit him since he would be free to officially extend support to the ruling party.
