Sudin has been a senior minister as well as a senior politician. He has not withdrawn support to the coalition governmentMARGAO: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader Sudin Dhavalikar on Wednesday received a pat on the back from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant as he showered praises on the former deputy Chief minister for his decision not to withdraw support to the coalition government and also not to field candidates in the ensuing by-polls.
- Chief Minister
He, however, said that that Sudin was dropped from his Cabinet to accommodate a member of the break-away MGP group.
The Chief Minister publicly welcomed Sudin Dhavlikar’s decision not to withdraw support to the coalition government, terming Sudin as a leader with a vision. “Sudin knows the support Goa had received from the Centre to take up the highway expansion works. For the first time in the history of the Satae, Goa had received more than Rs 15,000 crore to take up the highway project,” he said.
“Sudin has been a senior minister as well as a senior politician. He has not withdrawn support to the coalition government. He has also decided not to field candidates in the upcoming elections, this despite the fact that the two of MGP MLAs decided to join the BJP,” he said, while profusely thanking Sudin for his gesture.
When the media sought to know why he had dropped Sudin from the Cabinet if he considered him a leader with a vision, Pramod shot back “when the two MGP MLAs decided to join us, we welcomed them in the party fold. Sudin was dropped for no other reason than to accommodate Deepak Pauskar in the Cabinet”.
When the media drew attention of the statement made by Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to teach defectors a lesson, the Chief Minister initially tried to downplay the statement saying that Gadkari had made the statement in Maharashtra. He, however, sought to justify defections if the concerned MLAs switch sides to usher in the development of their constituencies, saying the BJP will go all out to honour the promise of taking up development works in the constituencies of these MLAs.
