The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Minus BJP and Cong, he wants to be Goa CM
THE SYMBOL of his party may be a lion, but Ramkrishna Sudin Dhavalikar likes to associate himself more with a fox.
Sudin, 61, and his younger brother Pandurang “Deepak” Dhavalikar are the main power centres in the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa’s ruling party for the first 16 years since the state was formed in 1963. The MGP is this time contesting the polls in alliance with the Shiv Sena and RSS renegade Subhash Velingkar’s Goa Suraksha Manch, having broken up with the BJP.
“They call me an opportunist but to survive one needs to do these things. You have to use the smartness of a fox,” said Sudin, 61, CM candidate of the alliance.
“The Congress and the BJP both grew on the support of the MGP. What is wrong if I used them to grow my party?” Sudin said.
The MGP has allied with both the Congress and the BJP to stay on the treasury benches. It had two seats and three in 2012, including the two brothers. The two were ministers in the incumbent BJP government, until Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar sacked them late last year following a series of statements against the Bjp-led government.
The MGP used to dominate Goa’s politics on the back of support it had among nonbrahmin Hindus. The brothers, who have controlled it since 2007, are Brahmins. Over the years, the MGP has suffered from the gradual exit of leaders such as Goa’s first woman CM Shashikala Bandodkar and former Union law minister Ramakant Khalap.
An alliance with the BJP in the 1990s helped the MGP less than the BJP, which gained from the MGP’S support base. The MGP is seen as anti-christian by that community, having demanded suspension of grants to Englishmedium schools. Besides, the party has also suppored rightwing organisations such as Sanatan Sanstha, whose HQ is in Sudhin Davalikar’s constituency of Marcaim.
Dhavalikar defends his support to Sanathan Sanstha: “It only asks people to come towards Hinduism.”
He set out his ambitions: “I will be the next chief minister of Goa. The MGP has strengthened, and found support among the youth. I am confident they will power me to the top seat.”