Panaji. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGK) president Deepak Dhavalikar on Saturday said the ruling party would have won at least 25-26 seats in Goa if the BJP had forged an alliance with us. Talking to reporters here, the president of the party, which had a pre-poll alliance with the Trinamool Congress, also spoke about the failure of the alliance. He said the West Bengal-based party (TMC) had delayed preparations for the assembly elections.
“If we had forged an alliance with the BJP, it would have won 25-26 seats. It is not a mistake. Our conditions were not matching with theirs,” Dhavalikar said.
Describing the regional organization as a ‘natural ally’, the BJP was trying to woo the MGP ahead of the elections, but the MGP turned down BJP’s attempts to consolidate the alliance.
The MGP was in alliance with the BJP in previous governments as well as between 2017-2019, but its ministers were sacked from the government following the death of the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar, when Pramod Sawant took over the top post.
The Hindu conservative vote bank of both the parties is similar.
The MGP later opted for an alliance with the Trinamool Congress and both the parties contested 13 and 26 seats respectively.
Dhavalikar said, “TMC is a new party and they came to Goa very late. If they had come to Goa a year ago, they could have done something. They came at the last moment and asked us for an alliance.”
He further said, “We wanted to give something new in Goa. But Goa didn’t want anything new, they wanted something that already exists, so they supported the BJP.”
The Trinamool Congress failed to open its account in the Goa elections held on February 14, while the MGP got only two seats.
The BJP has won 20 seats, which is just one seat short of the majority.
—AnyTV News
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