MARGAO: Three-and-a-half years after his loss at the Assembly elections, Joaquim Alemao seemed to be forgotten. The recent municipal elections of Cuncolim turned things around. Joaquim was back, and so was John Monteiro, the rebel who split 5,000 votes and helped BJP MLA Rajan Naik win at the 2012 elections. Rajan himself fielded his own panel after the post of SGPDA chairman was taken from him and given to Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho.
Rajan’s panel won two wards, Joaquim’s won four, John, now a Congress member and an aspirant for the Cuncolim ticket, won two, while independents won three wards. Technically, it was nobody’s victory. John claimed to have the majority needed to form the council, but he didn’t really seem to have it. Then Rajan seemed ready to form a council with his candidates and the independents, including Mario Moraes, who enjoyed various positions in the GSUDA under Joaquim’s regime as Urban Development Minister and ditched Joaquim before the previous elections. But now, Joaquim has staked his claim to form the council with his four councillors and three independents, with Lavita Mascarenhas as chairperson, and a ghar wapsi of Moraes.
Now, let’s look at the water that flowed under the River Sal bridge and the politics that spilled into the river.
Firstly, after Joaquim lost and was booed and never welcomed back to Cuncolim, he went into hiding and was not seen except in the courts when Churchill Alemao was in jail or for mining scam cases.
In the last three years, then GPCC President John Fernandes officially complained about Joaquim to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for anti-party activities and telling people to support his brother Churchill’s MP candidature as a Trinamol Congress candidate and shunt Reginaldo.
Post the MP election, from Shillong to Panjim returned Luizinho Faleiro as the new GPCC President, who brought ZP member Clephas Dias and John Monteiro into the Congress as ticket aspirants and revolved the Cuncolim Congress around them in the name of new faces, making it obvious Joaquim is not in the fray. Then, on the other side, Rajan got shunted by the BJP, stating that he will not recontest from Cuncolim, leaving John Monteiro to face rebel Joaquim Alemao at the polls in 2017.
“The Congress backed and supported no one in this election, but we will look at the performance of individuals and councillors to find new faces and declare new candidates,” explained Congress chief Luizinho Faleiro.
“Actually, Joaquim lost eight seats, and hence, we can say that people have rejected him and he should leave Cuncolim and go,” stated John Monteiro.
On the other hand, Churchill broke votes and seemed to have helped the BJP win in South Goa in 2014. In 2015, Churchill was packed into jail in the Louis Berger scam, while the Congress Margao MLA and then CM was pardoned by this BJP government. And not to forget Joaquim’s son in 2012 lost the Sanguem polls to the BJP by a slender margin.
This time around, Yuri stayed away from Sanguem completely, although he has hopes of being an MLA in 2017. In this play, he managed to give BJP MLA Subhash Phal Dessai a 12-0 lead in Sanguem. While in Cuncolim, Sashank Desai and Mario Moraes were, in less than half an hour, picked up and appeared on Joaquim’s panel at a press conference in Margao, where Moraes was declared the vice chairperson for all five years.
“I have the support of Rajan, John and Joaquim and am open to work with all. I respect the Congress and BJP and cannot be termed a Joaquim man despite me being in the panel,” stated Moraes.
The question is whether the BJP has a hand in all this; from using Caitu Silva and Mickky Pacheco to support Sawaikar and helping him win and making Churchill a rebel and helping Sawaikar win.
“My father always told to play with new toys and to give the old toys to the less fortunate. I don’t want to be a part of the BJP’s undercurrent and communal boys and don’t want to play with their toys. I gave up my ministership and all these BJP toys and want to distance myself from them,” stated Pacheco.
Then to shunt Churchill in jail, not sympathise with Mickky in jail and to deny Caitu ministership as a replacement to Mickky. Has the BJP now made Joaquim a rebel by himself to resurrect Rajan’s goal to contest in 2017 and make him the vote breaker against Congress’ John Monteiro? The BJP seems to be playing good games and the results have been better than that of Zico’s FC Goa.
Joaquim concludes, “I have the people’s ticket with this win. My biggest opposition in the municipal polls were Congress faces Devendra Naik, Cleophas Dias, John Monteiro and Luizinho’s Moti Desai. If not for the Congress ticket I will quit and contest as an independent.”
