Senior MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar (R) and Deepak Dhavalikar (L)
Gomantak Times
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which is contesting the polls in alliance with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), announced its first list of ten candidates for the next month's Goa Assembly elections.
MGP president and former MLA Pandurang alias Deepak Dhavalikar will contest from Priol while Senior MGP leader and Madhai MLA Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar will again contest Marcaim
Jeet Arolkar, who was the runner up of the 2019 byelection and recently joined MGP, has been named the party's candidate from Mandrem while Praveen Zantye, who switched over from BJP, will contest from Mayem.
The list also includes Vishwesh Prabhu from Valpoi, Rajan Korgaonkar from Pernem, Naresh Sawal from Bicholim, Ketan Bhatikar from Ponda, Sanket Naik Mule from Shiroda, and Vinayak alias Balaji Gauns from Savodrem
MGP, the first party to form government in the coastal state after the end of the Portuguese rule, are in a pre-poll alliance for the Goa polls.
On Tuesday, TMC declared its first list of election candidates. The TMC’s list includes former Goa chief ministers Churchill Alemão (Benaulim) and recently elected Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro, who will contest against Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai.
The two parties have also announced what the Trinamool has described as ‘Our 3 PROMISES for an empowered, prosperous and progressive Goa.’ These are a ‘Griha Laxmi Card,’ ‘Yuva Shakti Card’ and ‘Mhaje Ghar Maalki Hakk.’
Under the Griha Laxmi Card, a prospective MGP-TMC government will directly transfer ₹5000 per month to the bank account of one woman in every household. Yuva Shakti Card is a collateral-free, pre-approved credit card with a limit of ₹20 lakh at an annual interest rate of 4 per cent for citizens of Goa in the age group of 18-45 while Mahaje Ghar Maalki Hakk will see residents of the state, living here since before 1976, get title ownership of land under their possession.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, Congress had won 17 seats in the tiny coastal state to emerge as the single largest party. However, the BJP, which was in second place in terms of seats, quickly stitched an alliance with MGP, Goa Forward and Independent MLAs to form its government in Goa. However, later on, two MLAs from the MGP joined BJP.
The election for the 40 seats will take place on February 14, and the ballots will be counted on March 10.