No alliance with BJP ahead of 2022 polls: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party

Panaji:The Goa-based Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which has had a 'blow hot, blow cold' relationship with the ruling BJP in the recent past, has ruled out a pre-poll alliance with the saffron party for the 2022 Legislative Assembly polls.

Party president Deepak Dhavalikar on Wednesday said that if it comes to choosing an ally ahead of the elections, the party would like to be a part of an opposition alliance against the BJP.

"We want to contest as many seats as possible. We will not go for an alliance with the BJP. We will follow 'ekla chalo re'," Dhavalikar said.

The MGP, one of the state's oldest regional political parties, had allied with the BJP in the 2012 polls and was part of an alliance government led by then Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar.

The party broke away from the alliance ahead of the 2017 state Assembly polls, only to become part of a BJP-led coalition government led by Parrikar once again, after the BJP fell short of a majority.

After Parrikar's death, the MGP broke away from the alliance once again, after two of its three elected MLAs split the party and merged into the BJP.

The sole remaining MLA, Deputy Chief Minister Sudin Dhavalikar was later dropped from the state cabinet by newly anointed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

Deepak Dhavalikar now claims that the BJP will find the going tough if all the opposition parties come together.

"We will contest on our own. But we can consider working with the opposition parties if an alliance of such parties can be formed," Dhavalikar added.