TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO:Dissensions within the Congress party in Cuncolim may put spokes in the plans of former Urban Development Minister, Joaquim Alemao to return back to Cuncolim constituency following his defeat in the 2012 Assembly polls.
While the “outsider” status ~ which was used by the Opposition to put Alemao in the dock since 2002 ~ has found an echo in the Cuncolim Congress, an unfazed Alemao, however, said his fate depends on the people of Cuncolim, who had elected him twice to the Goa Legislative Assembly in 2002 and 2007.
“Where is the question of my outsider status when the people had rejected the same theory in 2002 and 2007? There was lot of misinformation when I first contested in Cuncolim in 2002, but the people rejected the “outsider status” theory for development. And, I did not let my people down by taking up development works in the constituency”, Alemao said.
The salvos fired by a former Cuncolim Youth Congress president Paresh Desai over the appointment of Alemao’s PA Assis Noronha as the Cuncolim Block Congress President has indeed brought to the fore simmering discontentment amongst Cuncolim Congressmen.
GPCC Chief Subhash Shirodkar had appointed Noronha as the new Cuncolim block president upon Alemao’s recommendations following the resignation of the then block president on personal grounds.
Though the block is likely to strongly rally behind the two-time former Cuncolim MLA, senior Congressmen admit in private that this is perhaps the first time that someone from the local Congress has fired salvos at Alemao on his outsider status as well as his plans to return back to Cuncolim.
This section of Congressmen accuses Alemao in private of not having shown his face in Cuncolim after his electoral defeat on important issues, including the burning NIT issue when the BJP leadership went all out in favour of the educational project.
Alemao, however, begged to differ. “I have not abandoned Cuncolim or the Congress workers. I have been in close touch with party workers and my supporters, not just in Cuncolim town, but in the villages of Chandor and Guirdolim”, he said.
Asked whether the dissensions in the Congress block would not come in the way of his plans for Cuncolim constituency, Alemao shot back “there’s absolutely no dissension. Paresh Desai had not worked for the Congress. The block is not only behind me, but has accepted the decision to appoint Assis Noronha as the block president”.
“As far as my return to Cuncolim is concerned, I leave my fate at the hands of the people. If they welcome me, I will return back or stay at home if people feel I am not required”, he asserted.
As far as my return to Cuncolim is concerned, I leave my fate at the hands of the people. If they welcome me, I will return back or stay at home if people feel I am not required, Joaquim Alemao asserted
