IN 30 YEARS, HE JOINED 6 POLITICAL PARTIES (Herald)

IN 30 YEARS, HE JOINED 6 POLITICAL PARTIES

March 26, 2014

 TEAM HERALD

 

MARGAO: From Dr Wilfred de Souza’s Goa Congress to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, seamen turned politician Churchill Alemao has indeed come a long way in his long political journey, spanning 30-years – having joined and changed as many as six political parties down the lane.

His first tryst with electoral politics began exactly 30 years ago in 1984 when then Goa Congress chief Dr Wilfred de Souza fielded him in minority heartland of Benaulim. He lost the poll to former Sports Minister Monte Cruz, but not before making his mark by polling 5,000-odd votes. Since then, there’s been no looking back for the seamen turned politician, having carved a niche for himself in Salcete’s political landscape with his role in the language agitation. 

Churchill later joined the Congress party and was elected as an MLA from Benaulim in the 1989 election. Differences between then Congress Chief Minister, Pratapsing Rane and arch rival Luizinho Faleiro saw the first-time MLA breaking away to form the Goan People's Party (GPP) and formed the short-lived PDF government in which he was the interim Chief Minister and remembered for stepping down within 17 days as promised.

Thereafter, he rejoined the Congress and again broke away to form the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) under which he made a remarkable political comeback when his party won three seats in 1994 and later went on to become MP two years later in 1996 under the UGDP banner. He returned back to the Congress in the late 90s only to quit the party to form the Save Goa Front (SGF) in 2006. The new regional outfit managed to win two seats of Navelim and Curtorim, but Churchill merged the 

nascent party with the Congress lock, stock and barrel to take over the reigns of the Public Works Department portfolio.

Out in the cold after the rout of the Alemao family in the 2012 Assembly polls, Churchill faced alienation within the Congress in the last two years. Isolated and embarrassed, which culminated in the denial of ticket to daughter Valanka, he quit the Congress on March 22 – only to join Mamata Baneerjee’s Trinamool Congress three days later to play yet another innings in his turbulent political career.

 http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Local%20News/IN-30-YEARS-HE-JOINED-6-POLITICAL-PARTIES/86972.html