Goa: MGP-BJP alliance to continue only if Laxmikant Parsekar is replaced as CM

Panaji: Accusing Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar of pushing the state backwards, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), a constituent of the ruling coalition, on Thursday said its alliance with BJP will continue only if he is removed from the top post. This stance by MGP has created uncertainty over its alliance with the BJP in the state Assembly polls, scheduled to be held early next year. [caption id=“attachment_3146326” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. PTI[/caption] “When we formed the alliance during the 2012 Goa State Legislative Assembly election, we had done it considering Manohar Parrikar as the leader of BJP. But over the last two-and-a-half years, the leadership is with Laxmikant Parsekar,” MGP President Dipak Dhavalikar told reporters after chairing the central working committee meeting of the party. Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was picked as the country’s defence minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the BJP-led NDA government came to power. Dhavalikar said MGP will not fight the upcoming Goa Legislative Assembly election in alliance with BJP if Parsekar continues to be the BJP legislature party leader. “During the last two-and-a-half years, Parsekar has pushed Goa backwards by 10 years. We are not comfortable with him as the state CM,” said Dhavalikar, who along with his elder brother Sudin, are part of BJP-led state cabinet. BJP and MGP had fought 2012 polls together, wherein the former won 21 seats, while the latter clinched three seats out of the total 40 constituencies. Dhavalikar said that before beginning the talks of alliance with MGP, BJP should first declare who would be the party’s face for upcoming state polls. “When Parsekar was chosen as a leader after Parrikar was elevated to the Union Cabinet, we were not taken into confidence,” the minister said. He also said that the state government had not taken them into confidence while announcing the decision to make Goa the first ‘cashless state’ in the country. Responding to a question on whether Goa can be made a cashless state, Dhavalikar taunted, “Goa is already a cashless state. Where’s the cash with government? We are already cashless.”