Former Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and his former rival Dayanand Sopte have set aside years of bitter political rivalry to unite against Mandrem legislator Jit Arolkar, triggering an escalating row between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partner, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, ahead of the state elections. Parsekar represented the North Goa coastal constituency for three consecutive terms before leaving the BJP in 2002 when the party chose Sopte as its candidate. Both men ultimately lost the seat to Arolkar, who represents the MGP. The tug-of-war over Mandrem is one of several anticipated seat-sharing disputes as major political parties navigate delicate negotiations with regional partners.
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which gave Goa its first chief minister in 1963, maintained dominance through the 1960s and 1970s before being unseated by the Congress. Facing declining influence in the early 1990s, the MGP allied with the BJP as the senior partner, helping the BJP secure its first four assembly seats in 1994 through its voter base. Power equations shifted by 1999 when the parties failed to reach an agreement and contested separately, resulting in the BJP expanding its tally to 10 seats while the MGP dropped to four. Although the MGP never fully recovered its former dominance, it has remained part of every ruling alliance since, aligning with the Congress from 2007 to 2012 and the BJP during other periods. Their only pre-poll alliance since 2012 occurred that same year, though the MGP later fielded candidates against the BJP during 2019 by-polls despite remaining in the ruling coalition.
Ahead of the upcoming election, both the BJP and the MGP have announced plans to contest as an alliance. Arolkar noted this partnership when addressing the joint challenge from Parsekar and Sopte, emphasizing that he intends to contest on an MGP ticket within the framework of the ruling alliance and expects local BJP members to support the coalition's candidate. While Goa transport minister Mauvin Godinho publicly backed Arolkar and urged voters to re-elect him, the endorsement drew internal criticism from fellow BJP colleagues. Meanwhile, MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar sought to downplay the dispute in Mandrem, stating that internal party surveys indicated dominance in other specific constituencies while reiterating that official seat claims would be decided through formal negotiations with the BJP's national leadership.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant responded by urging the MGP to understand its electoral limitations, pointing out that the regional party won only two seats after partnering with the Trinamool Congress in 2022. Sawant advised the MGP against conducting separate surveys and encouraged them to focus on the coalition. In response, Dhavalikar reminded the chief minister that his party maintains a solid base of at least 3,000 votes in every constituency. Despite the public friction, BJP state president Damodar Naik insisted that relations between the two allies remain stable, maintaining that all current disagreements amount to mere speculation and that appropriate decisions will be made collectively when the time is right.