Mumbai: A move that has ruffled many a feathers in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the BJP’s alliance partner, the Shiv Sena, has decided to contest four seats in the neighbouring state of Goa, but against the BJP. The Sena on Tuesday announced its alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), aiming to defeat the BJP.
The grand alliance has declared Sudhin Dhavalikar as its chief ministerial candidate. “We are contesting four seats in Goa, at Saligao, Thivim, Cuncolim and Mormugao. Our alliance with the MGP and GSM is on two issues — protecting the local culture of Goa and bringing political change,” said Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who is in charge of the Goa polls. The MP added that Subhash Welingar (an RSS rebel) is the convenor of the alliance.
When asked why the alliance was not forged with the BJP, Mr Raut said the Sena is not in alliance with the BJP other than in Maharashtra and at the Centre. “In Maharashtra, too, we contested the elections separately and came together to give a stable government. We do not have any alliance with the BJP in other states. We have fought Bihar independently, and we are fighting solo in Uttar Pradesh,” Mr Raut said.
The alliance would be contesting 35 of the 40 seats in the Goa Assembly. Mr Velingkar, who is confident of getting elected in the Assembly polls, said that the grants given to English medium schools would be withdrawn. “Once we form the government, the first and foremost decision would be withdrawal of government grants to schools that have English as the medium of instruction,” Mr Velingkar said. The leader has been promoting the local languages Konkani and Marathi. He was sacked from the RSS after he attacked the BJP government in the state.
Reacting to the Sena’s move, BJP MP Vinay Sahasrabudhhe said that the former was always against his party in Goa. “We have come to power twice in Goa despite the Sena’s opposition. We will come to power even if the Sena contests against us. The BJP will remain the number one party in the municipal corporation. The has grabbed the pole position in the panchayat elections. The people have decided to make the BJP the number one party,” Mr Sahasrabuddhe said.
