PANAJI (GOA)

The recent bickering in the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was expected. Rather, we can say that it took so long for the party leaders to rebel. The oldest regional party, which has seen utter stagnation in the State, is finally gearing up in its own way. The current infighting is a symbol that the party is alive and has not surrendered to Dhavalikar brothers.
It came as a surprise for many when Lavu Mamledar who is party’s general secretary and loyalist suddenly started appearing on the televisions openly criticizing his president Dipak Dhavalikar. The former Ponda legislator was always considered as Dhavalikar’s loyalist and it was that senior Dhavalikar who was held responsible for his rise in the politics.
For those who are new to Mamledar, let me recall that he was a police officer who has served in the places like Anti-Narcotic Cell and Traffic under the home ministership of Ravi Naik. It was coincidence that he fought election against the same home minister and defeated him in Ponda constituency.
If not for the results of 2017 and BJP’s uprising against Mamledar, he would have been an uncrowned leader of this constituency. But the politics within Ponda Municipal Council was one of the reasons for the downfall of this leader. The BJP stalwarts who have made this constituency as their bastion were reluctant to give away their grip over the civic body. What happened is history and everyone knows each and every detail of it as lot has been published in the media about it.
This time around, the same PMC politics was the reason that fuelled the distress between Mamledar and Dipak. The party president gave a statement to one of the media that BJP and MGP will fight PMC elections together. Perhaps, the intention of Dipak was to ensure that the votes shouldn’t split as Congress leader Ravi Naik is also vying for this body.
But the intention did not go well with Mamledar who sharply reacted to it and made a statement to our website that MGP will fight alone in PMC.
Little before this, there was a political development in Ponda and MGP announced Dr. Ketan Bhatikar as their face in the election. That also did not augur well with Mamledar.
Bhatikar is an import from Goa Suraksha Manch. He had fought 2017 elections from Panaji constituency on GSM ticket and lost miserably. Incidentally, he is also considered to be close to Goa Forward party president Vijai Sardesai.
For those who would analyze the politics in Ponda, emergence of Bhatikar was unexpected and can be considered as a signal for Mamledar that his era in this constituency is over.
That was a reason enough for Mamledar to go in public against his own party. The leader went on giving interviews on television accusing Dipak of hijacking the party and taking wrong decisions. He said that he has 35 different points to expose the behaviour of Dipak.
While leaving no stone unturned to accuse Dipak, Mamledar spared Sudin completely. There was no word uttered against Sudin. Even when Mamledar accused Dipak of not taking the Central Committee into confidence while giving letter of support to Manohar Parrikar to form the government, he did not say anything to Sudin.
This might be a divide and rule policy of Mamledar who cannot afford to have bad blood with everyone in the party. Dipak did retaliate to his statements and said that there was a proper procedure followed to support the formation of Government in Goa. However, things did not end there.
Next day, another member Parshuram Kotkar issued statement supporting Mamledar. At present, this is the only thing that has come up, but as we go for printing of this issue, we can expect more mud slinging in the oldest regional party.
The revolts and internal fights are not new to MGP, which has seen the best and worst days. After ruling the state for 18 years, the party went into opposition till Dhavalikar brothers came up with their own set of politics.
Many leaders left the party on the way. The exodus started in the year 1980 when leaders like Pratapsinh Rane left. Some leaders like Ramakant Khalap who were considered as inseparable from the party too divorced it stunning the political pundits.
But despite this, the party has kept its record that in every assembly it has given representation, which means in all the elections, MGP has won at least on one seat.
It was 55-year-ago that this party was formed with the regional ethos. If we don’t dwell into the Opinion Poll Days, the party has largely worked for the downtrodden people.
The current infighting seems to be a storm in a teacup for the party, which has withstood the cyclones. But one thing for certain is that the opinion of loyalists like Mamledar should not be ignored. It would be wise on the part of Dipak to give away the ego and sit across the table with Mamledar and know his concerns.
There have been direct allegations of trying to merge the party in BJP or attempting to dilute the party. Dhavalikar brothers need to come clean on these as these suspicions can continue creating awkward situation for the party cadres.
The party leaders need to be more transparent if it has to win the hearts of the people. MGP has already tried to change the name as MaGo Paksha, but this MaGo should not sound like NaMo, the ultimate reason to cheer for the BJP.