PANAJI
Power Minister and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) supremo Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar on Wednesday lent credence to what had so far been political speculation -- his son Mithil is likely to contest the 2027 Assembly election from Marcaim, a seat he has held uninterrupted since 1999.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 53rd death anniversary of Goa’s first chief minister and MGP founder Dayanand Bandodkar, Dhavalikar said he was prepared to vacate Marcaim for his son.
“If Mithil formally seeks an MGP ticket, I will personally make every effort to ensure his candidature,” he said.
If Mithil does bite the electoral bait, it will mark a decisive shift in the Dhavalikar family’s political trajectory.
Just last week, Mithil was launched at the inauguration of the Ponda office of the Madhavrao Dhavalikar Charitable Trust where he stood alongside MGP president Dipak Dhavalikar, fuelling speculation of a generational shift.
Dipak too had said his nephew's social work made him eligible, though the final call rested with Mithil himself.
But Wednesday's comments of the Power Minister put his son, Mithil at the centre of succession politics in Marcaim which has been their bastion for nearly three decades.
But Dhavalikar senior, has stopped short of clarifying whether he would retire or contest from another seat. Recently, he had claimed support across Ponda taluka and said he was capable of contesting from Ponda, Priol or Shiroda besides Marcaim.
The development, meanwhile, sharpens the seat‑sharing dilemma within the ruling BJP‑MGP alliance. Shiroda and Priol are currently held by BJP MLAs -- WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar and former minister Govind Gaude.
Any attempt to accommodate any of the Dhavlikars there risks unsettling sitting legislators. The Ponda seat too is already contested terrain as the BJP has already positioned Ritesh Naik, son of the late Ravi Naik, as its candidate and had officially nominated for the cancelled bye‑election in April.
Two decades ago, another political stalwart, the late Harish Zantye, had similarly made way stepping aside and claiming the Congress ticket for his son Pravin.
The junior Zantye however faltered in his electoral debut in 2007, losing narrowly by 480 votes to the BJP's Anant Shet. It took him (Pravin) two more consecutive attempts -- in 2012 as an independent and 2017 on a BJP ticket -- to eventually succeed in becoming a legislator.
