Congress facing leadership crisis in Goa: Minister Sudin Dhavalikar

Panaji: Senior Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader and Goa Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has said that the Congress has no scope in the coastal state as it is facing a leadership crisis.

Expressing confidence that the BJP candidate will definitely win Lok Sabha election from South Goa, Dhavalikar said that support of Congress turncoat MLAs will also help the saffron party to get votes.

"BJP candidate lost the last election hardly by 8,000 votes, why he faced defeat, everyone knows. This time South Goa seat (by BJP) will be won by a thumping majority," Dhavalikar, who supported Congress for the last Lok Sabha election, said.

"Congress has no scope in Goa. They have a leadership crisis in the state after their eight MLAs joined the BJP last year," Dhavalikar said.

Dhavalikar, now a power minister in the BJP led government, was also a minister in the erstwhile governments of Congress.

MGP had joined hands with TMC before the 2022 Assembly election, however Mamata Banerjee's party could not win a single seat in the coastal state.

Dhavalikar was dropped from cabinet in the last term (2017 to 2022) of the BJP government after his two MLAs split from the regional party and joined the saffron party then.

This forced the senior politician Sudin Dhavalikar to support Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha election, which helped grand old party's candidate Francisco Sardinha to win from South Goa by defeating BJP's then sitting MP Narendra Sawaikar.

After the results of 2022 assembly elections, BJP despite having a majority, MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar was accommodated in Pramod Sawant's cabinet.

Dhavalikar had announced before the assembly election results in 2022, that he will not support BJP in any circumstances, hoping MGP-TMC alliance will get at least ten seats. But after the results were announced with BJP emerging as the single largest party by getting 20 of the 40 seats in the state assembly, Dhavalikar had announced the unconditional support of his party's two MLAs to the BJP to help form a stable government.