PANAJI
Prospects of a possible alliance between the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party continue to yoyo, with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari stating on Tuesday, that he is scheduled to meet MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar during his two-day visit to Goa.
Dhavalikar is known to have a close association with Gadkari and has also flaunted his proximity to the senior BJP leader on several occasions. The fact was Gadkari acknowledged to mediapersons on Tuesday, but with a rider of his own.
"I have always maintained my political relations. But political relations are one thing and politics is another," Gadkari said.
"Whatever requests Dhavalikar made when Manohar Parrikar was the Chief Minister I fulfilled them. I have helped them," the Union Minister also said, during a press conference here.
When asked if he was likely to meet Dhavalikar during his Goa visit and discuss the prospects of an alliance between the two parties, Gadkari said: "Even if he is not aligned with the BJP, then we have personal relations. He is going to meet me. Once I meet him, I will discuss with him and I will take suggestions from you (media persons) too," Gadkari said.
The Union Minister played a key role in cobbling together an alliance between the BJP, Goa Forward and the MGP after the 2017 state assembly elections, putting together both the broad contours of the alliance overnight, thereby thwarting Congress' bid to form a government in the coastal state.
Even as Gadkari was scheduled to talk to Dhavalikar on Tuesday, state Public Works Department Minister Deepak Pauskar claimed that the BJP really did not need to ally with the MGP.
"MGP has no ground network in Goa... They will win zero seats," Pauskar told reporters in Panaji, adding that if there is an alliance, the MGP would ride merrily on BJP's shoulders.
He however also said that whether to align with the MGP or not was a decision for the BJP's senior leadership and that he would follow any decision taken by his party elders.
Dhavalikar on the other hand has repeatedly said that the MGP has committed suicide by aligning with the BJP on three occasions in the past and that aligning with the BJP again would be tantamount to strangulating one-self.
On Sunday, Dhavalikar was quoted in the media as saying that the MGP was open to an alliance, if the BJP offered the regional party 12 seats, only to claim later that the media had misquoted him.
Dhavalikar has also been in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party as well as the Trinamool Congress and the Congress party over the formation of a possible poll alliance with his party.
