PANAJI: Officially declaring the senior leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar as its chief ministerial candidate, the MGP-Goa Suraksha Manch-Shiv Sena grand alliance for the forthcoming state assembly election on Tuesday maintained that the MGP would contest in 27 constituencies, while the GSM and Shiv Sena would field their candidates in six and four constituencies, respectively.
Furthermore, MGP has been given the powers to decide about the candidates in the remaining three constituencies. The grand alliance, however, does not include the Goa Praja Party, earlier slated to be with it.
GSM will be fielding their candidates in Siolim, Panaji, Mayem, Sankhali, Velim and Curchorem constituencies, while Shiv Sena will contest in Saligao, Tivim, Mormugao and Cuncolim constituencies.
The MGP will be fighting it out in 27 constituencies.
Addressing a joint press conference convened by the three parties, the guiding force behind the Goa Suraksha Manch and the grand alliance convenor Subhash Velingkar said that as of now, the grand alliance has decided to contest in 37 constituencies, and would function under a common minimum programme, although each partner political party would be allowed to have its own agenda.
Velingkar also stated that the political coalitions, in the past, have often resulted in unpleasant experiences, and therefore, in the event of the MGP-GSM-SS grand alliance coming to power, a co-ordination committee would be constituted, which would meet twice a month, and in case of urgent requirement, once a week, to thrash out the issues before the alliance partners.
He also informed that the names of the candidates of the MGP-GSM-SS grand alliance would be declared from time to time.
Stating that withdrawal of government grants to the English primary schools in Goa would be the main issue of the GSM, Velingkar said that the issue is in consonance with the national educational policy.
“English as a primary language is unnatural and unscientific for local students and would be psychologically as well as educationally damaging to the students across the religious lines,” he maintained.
Velingkar also maintained that no Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteer would support the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state assembly election, as the MoI issue is linked to the nationalism.
Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar said the MGP had to break its alliance with the BJP to save the culture and identity of Goa. Stating that the grand alliance would be unbreakable, he expressed confidence that it would win more than 21 seats at the assembly polls and form a government.
The senior MGP leader, however, refrained from revealing his options after the election result.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the MGP is doing all those things in Goa, for which Shiv Sena is committed in Maharashtra. He also appealed to the Goans to back the grand alliance, stating that in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has no political alliance with the BJP, but had made a compromise with that party to give a stable government to the people.