The rift between two ministers in the Manohar Parrikar-led government grew wider on Sunday. Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude, an Independent, used veiled invectives while referring to ruling ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) members, and likened himself to a “tiger who does not bother about shouting dogs”.
Mr. Gaude, who belongs to the Scheduled Tribe community, also said that the MGP, especially its top leaders, including his Cabinet colleague and Public Works Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, would lead the people of Goa to “hell”.
“All these dogs are barking behind my back. But I challenge them to do it in front of me. I am a tiger and so they bark from a distance,” he said on the MGP’s demand that Mr. Parrikar should drop him from the Cabinet for verbally abusing Mr. Dhavalikar at a Cabinet meeting on January 17.
The exchange in the Chief Minister’s presence attracted wider attention, with eyewitnesses claiming that the ministers almost came to blows.
While the MGP gave a four-day ultimatum to Mr. Parrikar to drop Mr.Gaude for his behaviour, he claimed that the MGP was exaggerating and that he did not abuse Mr. Dhavalikar.
Mr. Gaude said he is being targeted because he won from the Assembly constituency of Priol in 2017, which was formerly represented by the MGP. “The MGP is afraid of me because I have done a lot of development in Priol,” he said.
