Is Madkaikar likely to quit Congress for greener pastures?

PANAJI: The general secretary of the All India Congress committee (AICC) and Goa congress desk in-charge Digvijaya Singh expressed confidence that Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar would not leave the party, but sources argue that Madkaikar is not likely to remain with the Congress and it is only a question of time, when the veteran Congress legislator spills the beans about his future.
Recently, there were speculations that three Congress MLAs, including Madkaikar, were being lured by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Singh assured that all the party MLAs would remain with the Congress and that any discordant issues would be resolved amicably. “We are in touch with all MLAs and this (report) is not correct. We are in touch with Pandurang Madkaikar. There may be some confusion or misunderstanding and that will be resolved,” he said.
“Madkaikar is a senior Congress leader and ex-minister. He is the general secretary of the Pradesh Congress. I think this (report) is a media creation,” Singh said, refusing to read too much into Saturday’s turn of events, where he tried meeting with Madkaikar, but the latter, under some pretext, didn’t make himself available to the Congress observer.
Madkaikar, who was seen attacking the BJP on the floor of the state assembly, has suddenly turned his fire towards the Congress. Madkaikar started his political career as a youth congress leader, but has a history with the MGP. He was elected on a MGP ticket in 2002 and joined the BJP a year later. He returned to the Congress in 2005 after a major coup brought down the Manohar Parrikar government.
With the emerging political situation in the state, the experience of Madkaikar is very much sought after by many parties, as they build up to the 2017 assembly elections. With resentment against the BJP-MGP coalition government growing, both the parties are working hard to entice politicians to their side. These include sitting MLAs, former legislators and members from other political camps.
Madkaikar is enjoying the attention he is receiving at the moment, as both the MGP and BJP have approached him to leave the Congress and contest on their respective tickets in 2017. But, with the attention, comes the dilemma and sources in the Madkaikar camp said that he would have to make that choice of choosing between the ‘Lotus’ and ‘Lion’ symbols.
Recently, senior MGP leader and PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar alias Sudin had a meeting with Madkaikar where the former urged the latter to consider ‘ghar vapsi’. On learning of this development, a top BJP leader had a meeting with Madkaikar offering him ‘acche din’ in the saffron party after the 2017 polls, a source said.
Madkaikar, earlier this week, admitted that he had offers from both the BJP and MGP, though BJP leaders tried to deny it. Sources in the BJP said that Madkaikar was offered a good ministerial berth in the next coalition government.
If Madkaikar joins the BJP, it would be a big achievement for the party. Firstly, it would get a tribal leader in their camp, especially at a time when the popularity of its current leader Ramesh Tawadkar, who is also the sports minister, is on the wane. Secondly, it will help to neutralize the MGP during seat sharing negotiations. Thirdly, and importantly, in the intra-party politics, it would further marginalize Union Ayush minister Shripad Naik, considering that Naik’s son, Siddhesh, is working in the Cumbarjua constituency vying for a BJP ticket.
When contacted, Madkaikar didn’t want to comment on the developments.