In a stern condemnation of a demand made on Thursday by its junior alliance partner, the MGP, the Goa Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Friday, ruled out chopping and changing Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar, adding that such a demand was unjustified and a sign of immature politics.
Addressing a Press Conference in Panaji, BJP spokesperson Nilesh Cabral said, that laxmikant Parsekar was unanimously chosen as a Chief Minister by the party’s legislative wing and as a senior partner in the coalition with 21 MlAs, as against Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party's three, it was not a choice for the latter to make.
“We condemn such a demand. We are surprised by the demand made by Deepak Dhavalikar, who is himself a Cabinet Minister and has worked under Parsekar’s leadership for the last two and a half years,” Cabral said. “Parsekar’s leadership will not change under any circumstances,” he also said.
The BJP legislator from Curchorem also said, that MGP was violating “coalition dharma” by discussing issues in public, when differences could be sorted out between the two parties and also described the demand made by Dhavalikar as immature.
On Thursday, Deepak Dhavalikar, who is the State presidasent of one of Goa’s oldest regional parties, had demanded that for the BJP-MGP alliance to continue for the 2017 State Assembly elections, Parsekar had to be sacked and replaced by another CM.
“The Chief Ministership of Parsekar has been imposed on us. We have asked the BJP to change him and a new Chief Minister should be sworn, in if this alliance is to be taken forward to the next election,” MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar had said, following a meeting of the party’s central committee.
The comment by Deepak Dhavalikar, whose brother Sudin, is a Public Works Department Minister in the BJP-led coalition Government, capped continuous criticism of the BJP and its functioning by its alliance partner.
Tension has been rife in the ruling alliance camp over issues related to seat-sharing and leadership, even as the State Assembly elections draw close.
With the stakes high and BJP insiders claiming off record, that the party needs an alliance with MGP to win the upcoming poll, the BJP does not appear in the mood brusquely to respond to defiant charge made by Deepak Dhavalikar.
When asked, if the BJP would ask Dhavalikar and the MGP to apologise for insulting a sitting CM, Cabral said, “There is no question of an apology. We are an elder brother in the coalition. An elder brother cannot ask the younger sibling to apologise. It is for them to realize it”.
Cabral also said that the party preferred to discuss alliance talks with Deepak's elder brother Sudin Dhavalikar, who was “more mature” than his brother.