TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Churchill Alemao is facing testing time in his turbulent political career, spanning around two decades and half, as he braces up to test the political waters once again – two years after the rout of the Alemao family in the 2012 Assembly poll.
As he quit the Congress on Saturday – the third time in the last 25 years — analyst say the going may not be smooth for Churchill this time round. Though statistics may give him an edge, having won the South Goa Lok Sabha seat twice in the last 20 years, Churchill will have to virtually swim against the tide with the April 12 poll virtually taking the shape of a battle between secular and communal forces.
Aware that Churchill’s presence in the fray will only divide its core vote base in Salcete and amongst the minorities, the Congress has not lost time in portraying the former PWD Minister as a “spoiler”, who is out to divide the secular vote to benefit the BJP. And, with the Church coming out with a circular to vote for a secular India and Gujarat’s based Jesuit Priest Fr Cedric Prakash making a fervent plea to Goans to awake and stop the march of the communal forces, many say the former PWD Minister will have to literally struggle to portray himself as a secular candidate to garner the much-required minority vote to emerge triumphant.
Secondly, the Congress has already kicked off its campaign with the message that the former PWD Minister is out to split the secular vote and help Modi win the South Goa seat. Again, with anti-Modi sentiments apparently running high amongst the minorities, Churchill faces a huge challenge to project himself a “winning” candidate against the BJP and Congress.
The Congress says it has no dearth of armaments in its arsenal to take on the former PWD Minister. The party has again raked up the family raj to put the Alemao’s in the corner and has hinted of making the Portuguese citizenship of Churchill’s family members a major poll issue in the run up to the election.
In the 2007 Assembly poll, Churchill’s gamble of contesting the Assembly election against Luizinho Faleiro after quitting his Lok Sabha seat had paid off after he successfully tapped the anti-incumbency factor against Faleiro with tacit support of the BJP.
This time round, however, there’s neither any incumbency factor prevailing around with the Congress fielding a new face without baggage nor any sympathy factor visible around which he could tap and converted into votes.
