TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao has asserted that the party leadership has done injustice to daughter Valanka by not considering her candidature for the South Goa seat, while dropping clear hints that the he may not join the campaign for the party candidate in South Goa.
And Churchill virtually conceded that he may not campaign for Reginaldo Lourenco saying, “I had said that I will campaign for the Congress if the ticket is given either to sitting MP Francisco Sardinha or my daughter Valanka”.
Reacting to the Congress decision to give the ticket to Reginaldo Lourenco, Churchill quipped, “The Congress has done injustice to Valanka. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress in Delhi had been talking about youth and women empowerment. That being the case, why was Valanka not considered for the South Goa seat. She had staked claim for the ticket on merit. The Congress had given tickets to eight Youth Congress presidents across the country. I fail to understand why the party did not consider Valanka when she was a woman face representing the youth”.
Asked whether he would campaign for Reginaldo’s candidature in the South, Churchill quipped, “I had made it clear from day one, that I will hit the campaign only if the ticket was given to Sardinha or Valanka. I am also not keeping in good health.”
Meanwhile, Churchill told Herald on late Tuesday evening that the meeting scheduled on Wednesday at 5 pm will take stock of the situation arising out of the party’s decision to nominate Reginaldo for the seat.
“I will go by the decision of my workers and sympathisers from South Goa. They are upset that the party leadership totally ignored me and the way Reginaldo was given the party ticket”, he said.
When asked whether he intends to take some drastic step over the party decision, Churchill said wait and watch till Wednesday, while saying that his supporters are demanding that he quit the Congress party for the shabby treatment meted out to him by the party leadership in recent times.
