MGP withdraws support to BJP-led Goa govt

The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) today withdrew its support to the BJP-led state government, after two of its ministers were sacked from the Goa cabinet recently owing to serious differences between the alliance partners.
MGP President Dipak Dhavalikar, in a letter to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, informed that all his three MLAs have withdrawn support to the Laxmikant Parsekar government.
With this the number of MLAs supporting the BJP-led dispensation has come down to 23 which comprises 21 legislators from BJP and two independents.
"I beg to place before you the fact that our party had signed a pre-poll alliance with BJP for Goa Assembly 2012 elections and the party accordingly had adopted a resolution to that effect," Dhavalikar said in the letter.

"As per election results, the BJP-MGP government took over the charge of administration and we continued our co-operation inspite of differences on various issues, which recently led to the ouster of MGP MLAs from the cabinet," he said.
Now that upon declaration of 2017 assembly elections by the Election Commission of India, the central committee of MGP--which had decided not to continue with BJP--now confirms its decision to break the alliance with BJP from immediate effect, he said.
MGP leaders Dipak and Sudin Dhavalikar were sacked from the cabinet last month following their outburst against the BJP-led government in the poll-bound state.

The party has now begun talks with RSS rebel leader Subhash Velingkar led Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) for pre-poll ties for the elections scheduled on February 4.