PANAJI: Following the criticism by general secretary of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and former Ponda MLA Lavu Mamledar against the party’s president Pandurang ‘Deepak’ Dhavalikar, many central committee members have also started expressing their displeasure over the functioning of the party president.
When this daily spoke to some members of the MGP’s central committee on what exactly is going on in the oldest regional party in the state, it was observed that there was a lack of dialogue within the party when taking some important decisions.
Citing various instances in a press conference earlier this week, Mamledar had exposed Dhavalikar’s autocratic actions and this has now been endorsed by some of the members.
A senior member of the MGP’s central committee, on condition of anonymity, said that whatever Mamledar had stated is very true, as many important decisions like giving letter to the Governor supporting the BJP government led by Manohar Parrikar on March 12, 2017, was not discussed at the central committee meeting. He said that neither was the letter of resolution that was given to the Governor ever placed before the members of the central committee nor could the party president Deepak and MGP legislator wing leader Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar provide an answer to the members who raised the point.“MGP’s central committee meeting was not held in March 2017. First meeting was held in July 2017, after the assembly elections. It implies that the party president is not taking other members into confidence on important matters,” a senior member said, adding that he cannot take everybody for granted.
Another party leader said that after the press conference by Mamledar, party president Deepak had said that he will try to sort out the issues about Lavu’s misunderstanding, whereas party’s legislature wing leader Sudin clarified that all allegations were baseless. “This shows that both Dhavalikar brothers arrived at the decision to support BJP government in March 2017 without consulting other members,” he added.
Another senior member of the party, Ratnakar Mhardolkar, said that he would not try to defend either the party president or the general secretary on the issue, but would suggest to them that they resolve the issues by sitting across the table.
“If while taking some decisions, the party leaders have not followed the procedures or constitution of the party, then it should be rectified in the interest of the party. But taking such issues to the public through media is not the solution,” he said. He said that people want the party to continue and grow, as it is still in the hearts of thousands of people in the state. “We will try to bring Lavu and Deepak together to discuss the issues by the end of next week,” Mhardolkar said.