A stir within: MGP gives BJP a month to name CM's successor

THE PARTNER IN
GOVERNANCE
>> MGP has three MLAs, two of who are ministers with meaty portfolios
>> Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar holds the public works and transport departments
>> Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar has the tourism and sports portfolios
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PANAJI: Ruling coalition partner Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party on Wednesday waded into the contentious issue of finding a successor to ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar which has dominated Goa's political discourse for weeks and set a month's deadline to the Bharatiya Janata Party to name the next CM. “It has become difficult to go ahead with the present situation. Either BJP should decide on the new chief minister or they should dissolve the government. We are giving them one-month time,” MGP president Deepak Dhavlikar said.
MGP has three MLAs, two of who are ministers with meaty portfolios. Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar holds the public works and transport departments among others which Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar has the tourism and sports portfolios.
Also the third party legislator, Dipak Pauskar, has charge of the all-important Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation. With Parrikar's health issues keeping him virtually out of action for close to two months, the controversy over who will be the next leader has been haunting the ruling coalition for weeks. The MGP, however, had steered clear of the leadership crisis. Dhavlikar senior had even gone on record a few days ago after his meeting with BJP National President Amit Shah, that Parrikar will continue as CM until "he is there".
The MGP president's statement on Wednesday fixing a one-month deadline, therefore, gains significance and is an indication that the ruling coalition's leadership is struggling to cope with the task of choosing Parrikar's successor.
The recent development in which two Congress MLAs - Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte - quit their membership of the House and joined the BJP may have influenced MGP to take a less ambivalent stand and decide to assert itself on the leadership issue. It is also apparent that the MGP harbours a hope that the Chief Ministerial post go to its leader, the senior Dhavlikar. It has on more than one occasion in the recent past stated on record that 'senior-most member' of the cabinet, which Dhavlikar undisputably is, should succeed Parrikar.
Meanwhile, the MGP president, also strongly voiced the party's distaste for the politics of defection. He strongly advocated that legislators who leave one party to join another should be denied tickets, for at least six years.