Bo-bo in Benaulim
Whatever else one may say about him, PWD Minister Churchill Alemao is the consummate politician. He always gets his timing right. Just around the induction of Education Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate and Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane into the Congress, Churchill has chosen to announce that his daughter, Valanka, will contest the election from Benaulim constituency.
At this point, Benaulim is leaderless. This is because in the last election, Churchill himself moved his constituency to neighbouring Navelim, and trounced its undefeated representative (and his sworn enemy) Luizinho Faleiro. Churchill wanted to move out of Benaulim, because he was not confident of defeating the presently absconding former Tourism Minister Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco. And, in any case, Navelim constituency included his stronghold villages of Varca, Orlim, Carmona and Cavellossim.
Now, in the new delimitation, all these villages have become part of the new Benaulim constituency. Mickky’s strongholds of Majorda and Betalbatim have become part of the new Nuvem constituency, which replaces the erstwhile Loutolim constituency. Mickky therefore faces Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira, not Churchill, as his main rival, and Benaulim is open for Valanka.
Valanka Alemao is no greenhorn. She has been taking a keen interest in the affairs of the constituency for some years now, in preparation to step into his shoes. She is educated and intelligent, and can hold her own with the media and fellow politicians. But unfortunately for Churchill, the Congress has a policy not to give more than one member of a family a ticket for an election. This norm may be relaxed for the 2012 poll, to accommodate Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane. However, Churchill’s family already has two tickets; brother Joaquim is the Cuncolim MLA and Urban Development Minister.
Can Churchill realistically expect a third ticket for a family member?
Let us not forget here, that Churchill has established another little tradition over the last two assembly elections. A little before each election, he resigns from the Congress and ‘joins’ a regional party that his followers have conveniently set up a few months earlier. The last time, it was called the ‘Save Goa Front’. Before that, it was the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP). And then, about a year after he wins the election, he ‘merges’ that party with the Congress, and joins the cabinet as a minister. He has done this without fail in the last two polls. Is this the first step for a third edition of the same?
Join the party!
In a state where we have no shortage of ‘leaders’ with no followers, here comes a party – presumably full of followers – in search of a leader! The United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), a namesake of Jack Sequeira’s great United Goans, says it is in total disarray because it needs a suitable leader who can take the reins and restore the party to its erstwhile glory in the coming 2012 assembly elections.
For a party that once had three MLAs in the Legislative Assembly, it is a sorry state of affairs. Party Secretary General Anacleto Viegas says that it has not held any meetings, public rallies and not even reacted to the momentous events in the state over the past three years, because all the leaders it brought into the Assembly deserted the party and joined the Congress, starting from its first ‘great’ leader Churchill Alemao.
Now, says Anacleto, the party is left only with part-timers – those who have full-time jobs, businesses or are professionals – and no one to manage it full time. In the last Lok Sabha elections from South Goa, party candidate Matanhy Saldhana was even denied its symbol of ‘two leaves’, because it did not poll the requisite number of votes. If the same fate awaits it in the 2012 Assembly Election, it will be de-recognised as a state party as well.
Any takers?
