PANAJI
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislator from Mandrem, Jit Arolkar on Friday dismissed reports that he is joining ruling alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In an interview to television news channel Prudent, Arolkar said, he is “firmly” with the MGP and “happy”.
The other MGP legislator, Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar is a cabinet minister. For several months local news outlets had been running stories speculating that Arolkar is being courted by the BJP and may join it.
While Dhavalikar had dismissed the reports and asserted that Arolkar will remain with the MGP, the Mandrem legislator himself had refrained from commenting on the issue until Friday.
Both MGP and BJP have asserted that their alliance will survive and they will go into the next elections together. But neither have come up with clarity on the seat-sharing formula and face some issues in Ponda where the Dhavalikar brothers and the late Ravi Naik's clan are engaged in perennial political sparring.
