Sudin Dhavalikar

Ramkrishna alias Sudin Madhav Dhavalikar^[4] (born 21 November 1956) is an Indian politician, and a senior leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). He is a six-term member of the Goa Legislative Assembly, representing the Marcaim constituency^[5] and former deputy Chief Minister of Goa.^[6]

Sudin Dhavalikar
Dhavalikar in 2018
Member of the Goa Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 1999
Preceded by	Shripad Naik
Constituency	Marcaim
7th Deputy Chief Minister of Goa
In office 19 March 2019[1] – 27 March 2019[2]
Governor	Mridula Sinha
Chief Minister	Pramod Sawant
Preceded by	Francis D'Souza
Succeeded by	Manohar Ajgaonkar
Cabinet Minister, Government of Goa
In office 17 March 2017 – 17 March 2019
Governor	Mridula Sinha
Chief Minister	Manohar Parrikar
Ministry and Departments	Public Works. Transport. River Navigation. Museum.
Cabinet Minister to the Government of Goa
Incumbent
Assumed office April 2022
Governor	P. S. Sreedharan Pillai
Chief Minister	Pramod Sawant
Ministry and Departments	Power New and Renewable Energy Housing
Personal details
Born	(1956-11-21) 21 November 1956 (age 68) Ponda, Goa, Portuguese India
Political party	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
Spouse	Jyoti Dhavalikar
Relatives	Deepak Dhavalikar (brother)[3]
Alma mater	Chowgule College, then under Bombay University
Occupation	Politician

Ministry portfolios

He has been a Minister in various governments for over 15 years, holding important portfolios by forming alliances with various political parties.

Goa State Cabinet Ministry Portfolios held by Sudin Dhavalikar^[7]

Took Office	Left Office	Portfolios Held	Chief Minister	Party
3 June 2002	31 January 2005	P.W.D., Archives & Archaeology, Museum, and Fisheries	Manohar Parrikar	BJP
3 February 2005	4 March 2005	Public Works Department, Fisheries, Archives & Archaeology, and Museum	Manohar Parrikar	BJP
7 June 2005	5 June 2007	Public Works Department, Fisheries, Archives & Archaeology, Museum, and Co-operation	Shri Pratapsingh Rane	INC
8 June 2007	28 July 2007	Public Works Department, and Science & Technology	Shri Pratapsingh Rane	INC
14 March 2008	1 February 2012	Transport, River Navigation Department, and Social Welfare	Digambar Kamat	INC
9 March 2012	8 November 2014	Public Works Department, Transport, and River Navigation	Manohar Parrikar	BJP
8 November 2014	12 December 2016	Public Works Department, Transport, and River Navigation	Laxmikant Parsekar	BJP
20 March 2017	17 March 2019	Public Works Department, Transport, River Navigation, and Museum	Manohar Parrikar	BJP
18 March 2019	27 March 2019	Public Works Department, Transport, River Navigation, and Museum	Pramod Sawant	BJP
9 April 2022	Present	Power, New & Renewable Energy, and Housing	Pramod Sawant	BJP

On 27 March 2019, he was dropped from the Cabinet of Ministers as the Deputy Chief Minister, as well as the ruling alliance, after two MGP MLAs (Deepak Pauskar and Manohar Ajgaonkar) broke away from the party and joined the ruling BJP, merging the MGP legislative party into the BJP.^[8][6] A disqualification plea of the two breakaway MGP MLAs, along with 10 other congress MLAs was dismissed by the High Court of Bombay at Goa.^[9]

Political party

He is a senior leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1961.^[7] He has played a pivotal role in survival and success of the party for last 20 years.

Controversy

In 2015, two members of Aam Aadmi Party – Pradip Ghadi Amonkar and Mujahid Rizvi – alleged that Dhavalikar, while contesting the previous Assembly election, had sworn a false affidavit that he is a BSc graduate. They claimed that Sudin Dhavalikar had lied in his sworn affidavit regarding his educational qualification.^[10][11][12] The aggrieved approached the court as they claimed that Ponda police had declined to register an FIR against Dhavalikar. After inquiring with the Bombay University, Ponda police submitted in the court that Dhavalikar's BSc degree is genuine. The Ponda court promptly dismissed the case noting that JMFC Apurva Nagvekar did not find any merit in the application made by the aggrieved party.^[13]