BJP open for alliance with MGP
PTI, PANAJI | 04 March 2011 21:43 IST
BJP today said it was open to talks with the state-based Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) for an alliance for the Goa Assembly polls, due next year.
"We are open to the talks with MGP. Nothing has been decided. But there is a possibility that we will have a coalition with them," said Gopinath Munde, senior BJP leader, here.
He said the BJP was ready to face the election on its own, but had kept other options open.
The party will "surely initiate talks with MGP", he said.
Earlier in the day, MGP had also hinted that alliance with BJP was a possibility.
MGP''s general secretary Lavu Mamlatdar said that his party was yet to receive any proposal from the BJP, but in case a proposal came, MGP cadres and the party''s central committee will take the decision.
MGP, Goa''s oldest regional party, is currently a coalition partner of Congress in the state government.
Responding to a question, Munde said this aspect -- MGP being coalition partner of "tainted government", would be considered before approaching it with the offer of alliance.
Munde also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram should accept moral responsibility for appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner, which has been set aside by the Supreme Court.
"The Union Government has been put to shame by the Supreme Court verdict.... Prime Minister and Home Minister should admit responsibility for appointing Thomas as CVC despite the opposition of Sushma Swaraj," Munde, who is BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said here.
Munde was addressing a party convention, during the release of a book published by state BJP-- 'Tainted Government', on the alleged misdeeds of the Congress-led government in Goa.
Talking to reporters, he said that selection of CVC should be unanimous, and not by majority, as was the case with Thomas.
"Selection committee has a representative of the Opposition. Consent of that representative must be made mandatory," he said.
Munde said that in the case of Pune-based stud farm owner Hasan Ali too, the government had been exposed. "Supreme Court has passed a strict order against the government asking it to investigate the source of his wealth."
He said the year 2010 was the "year of scams".
