PANAJI
Stating that the decision to drop Dhavalikar brothers was taken at the government level while the alliance was decided at party level, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is still open to any proposal on alliance from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), if made through a proper channel.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji along with office bearers of State BJP, Parrikar said, “They (Dhavalikars) have been dropped due to their discomfort with the chief minister. This is a decision taken at the government level, while the alliance was decided at party level. It is an agreement between two political parties. But as far as we are concerned, we have not terminated it. If they wish, they can send us a proposal but not through the media. We will respond to it appropriately.”
Speaking further, he said, “As of now, my party’s channel for the alliance is not closed. You cannot criticise the chief minister being in his cabinet. This is immoral. These are double standards. So the party strongly accepted the chief minister’s recommendation to drop them. They have been dropped due to their discomfort with the CM, not because we have broken the alliance.”
Asked if BJP still needs an alliance with MGP, he said, “We think that the alliance will be in the interest of Goa and both of us. But that does not mean we will wait infinitely. It is for them to initiate steps necessary and tell us.”
Pointing out that BJP is also gearing up to face the polls alone if the alliance does not happen, Parrikar said, “We have already begun with our conventions, which have already been held in 18 constituencies. Additionally, we plan to cover at least 35 constituencies prior to the code of conduct. These include constituencies represented by MGP and also those in which they had contested during the last elections.”
He also said that loss of trust in the chief minister should have been followed by resignation by Dhavalikar brothers, he said, “They themselves said that they have lost trust in the CM. Actually any such loss of trust should have been followed by their resignation. If they had this issue in their mind, we could have definitely discussed it. Whether we would agree to it or not is a different issue. So the decision to drop them has been taken by Parsekar with Party’s consent.”
Commenting on Deepak Dhavalikar’s claim that they were isolated by Parsekar, Parrikar said, “Even after I became the Defence Minister, on number of occasions I have stepped in to ensure that difficulties are resolved. If there were any conditions they should have put it to us directly and not through media.”
Parrikar said that he was informally in talks with MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar during the last three months and also informed that nearly four weeks back, Sudin had in-principally agreed to the pre-poll alliance.
He also stressed that BJP has followed the coalition dharma by giving two cabinet berths to MGP, despite BJP having a clear majority during the last State Legislative Assembly polls.
“We gave them two cabinet berths which was disproportionate to their strength. Few major portfolios like PWD and Transport were also given to them”, he said.
