PANAJI: Former MP Churchill Alemao and ex-MLA of Benaulim is gearing up to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from South Goa, either on a Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) or independently, it is learnt.

Alemao has always harped and boasted of his direct link with the people of Salcete, rather than affiliating with any political party, but he is not averse to contesting on an NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction ticket if given the chance, sources claimed.

Alemao, had earlier (last year) expressed his willingness to contest polls based on what he called ‘public demand’. As quoted by local newspaper Herald, Churchill had asserted, “I don’t need any party; I will contest on the ‘people’s ticket’ if the citizens show the desire for my representation.”

Churchill Alemao is known for his party hopping and past affiliations with various political parties be it the Trinamool Congress, NCP, etc. While he was a formidable political force in South Goa during the late 1990s, he hardly wields any clout in the present scenario at present.

“It is the people who elect you not the party. All this while people have elected me, and if they want me to, I will contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2024,” Alemao was quoted by Herald as saying in November last year.

Alemao was not available for comment and calls to his phone went unanswered.

PANAJI: A day after several exit polls predicted a hung Assembly in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said the BJP will team up with like-minded parties and independents to form the government in the coastal state. He said the BJP is open to post-poll alliances while exuding confidence about his party’s victory in the recently held polls.

“Exit polls may show anything but we are confident that BJP is forming government in Goa once again with majority,” Sawant said.

Sawant also said that his party will bring “like-minded parties” on board, if required, to form government in the state .

“We will take help of people who are required for coalition or to form government. We will bring like-minded parties on board if they want,” he said.

Reacting to reports that Congress is planning to shift all its candidates to a resort, Sawant said the party resorting to “resort politics” fearing that their candidates will run away.

“I think the Congress party always has fear in their mind. They fear that the candidates whom they chose this time will run away. That is why they have started resort politics,” he said.

PANAJI: The BJP Saligao MLA candidate Jayesh Salgaoncar today publicly accused former Minister and Congress Calangute candidate Michael Lobo of bribing the electorate in the constituencies of Saligao, Siolim and Mapusa by distributing money in the range of Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 per person.

According to local media reports, Jayesh Salgaonkar made direct allegations against former Minister Michael Lobo of trying to influence voters with money and envelopes stuffed with cash.

Salgaonkar urged the Election Commission of India to take cognizance of the matter and stop such illegal activity of distributing money clandestinely to voters to influence the outcome of the voting process.

After filing his nomination, Salgaocar told reporters in Goa that there are efforts to divide people by Lobo by bribing a certain section of people with wads of cash.

“Michael Lobo’s formula of distributing money and buying votes in Saligao will not work. They are trying to bribe voters with Rs 3000 and Rs 5000 envelopes,” Salgaoncar alleged.

“The same thing is happening in Siolim and Mapusa and people are forcefully given money. It is said that the envelopes are being packed in one of Michael Lobo’s flats, which are distributed in Saligao, Siolim and Mapusa,” Salgaoncar alleged. It may also be happening in areas of Calangute, Salgaoncar said.

“This has to stop. The Election Commission must take action against Lobo and his henchmen,” he demanded.

CALANGUTE, GOA: The newly formed Trinamool Congress Calangute Block today registered more than 2500 families for their three flagship schemes being Yuva Shakti Card (YSC), Mhaje Ghar, Maalk Hakk (MGMH) and the Griha Laxmi Card or GLC, Block President Benedict D’souza told media persons in Calangute on Monday evening.

The target is to register all the families in the constituency within the next 3-4 days, D’souza said, adding that the response of the residents of Calangute was overwhelming.

The drive was held with the active participation and under the direction of former Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes, former sarpanchas Anthony Menezes and Joseph Sequeira along with Benedict D’souza and other TMC members.

An election prep and training camp for the TMC Calangute youth committee was also held today and was attended by about 50 youth leaders in the constituency.

PANAJI, (AGENCIES): With just three weeks left for the Goa polls, Goa CM Pramod Sawant left for New Delhi on Sunday morning along with the State Party President to meet with the party’s top brass. The poll-bound state CM is likely to meet Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda. Sawant is expected to meet other party leaders and discuss the route to the upcoming state polls.

The main item on the agenda is to finalise the list of party candidates for the polls on Feb 14.

Earlier, Pramod Sawant had welcomed the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) schedule for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections. Welcoming the dates of the polls, state CM Sawant had expressed full confidence over winning the upcoming polls and continuing BJP rule in the state. He had also welcomed the COVID-19 guidelines announced by the ECI.

Accepting the guidelines and schedule put forth by the ECI, CM Sawant had said, “I welcome ECI announcement. The way ECI has declared dates considering COVID spread I thank him on behalf of Goans. BJP will win with the complete majority in Goa. BJP is always in election mode.”

PANAJI: Opening up a can of worms, Bharatiya Janta Party – Goa Pradesh President, Sadanand Shet Tanavade took to Twitter to hint that today’s ‘resignations are due to personal reasons where they (the candidates) are either unlikely to get the ticket’.

Without mentioning any names, Tanavade directly hinted at former Minister and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo who resigned from the party and as a Cabinet Minister today.

I am being asked about recent resignations by party MLAs. Let me reiterate that all these resignations are due to personal reasons where they are either unlikely to get the ticket ….. (1/2)

— SADANAND SHET TANAVADE सदानंद शेट तानावडे (@ShetSadanand) January 10, 2022

Tanavade told a select group of news persons that the party was ‘watching’ Lobo for the last one year and knew that he was quitting the party. “We knew his intentions, but we didn’t say a word. Time and again, senior leaders counselled him, but then he is not a small boy. We gave him space, but we were prepared and have a Plan B in place,” Tanavade hinted, adding that the BJP made him (Michael Lobo) a Cabinet Minister, but “he is selfish and only concerned about his personal benefits.” Such a person cannot be loyal to anyone, the BJP party chief said.

. @BJP4Goa was fully aware of this possibility & has an alternate plan in place. Come February 2022, With the blessings of people of #Goa, #BJP will form the Govt on its own with 22+ seats.
…..(2/2)

— SADANAND SHET TANAVADE सदानंद शेट तानावडे (@ShetSadanand) January 10, 2022

@BJP4Goa was fully aware of this possibility & has an alternate plan in place. Come February 2022, With the blessings of people of #Goa, #BJP will form the Govt on its own with 22+ seats, Tanavade tweeted.

The Goa BJP President also hinted that the party high command will take appropriate action and acts of treachery and betrayal will not go unpunished.

Without giving much importance to BJP leader Michael Lobo’s decision to quit the party, Tanavade said (earlier in the day), he was waiting for Lobo to leave so that the party could continue its work with a new team.

“We already knew that Michael Lobo would leave the party, so there is no shock for us or the party. It was good that he left BJP now. Michael had left us long back, he was only present physically, hence we don’t treat his exit as a setback,” said Tanavade, adding that Lobo was not likely to get the BJP ticket this time for his indiscipline and for working against the party.

Even during the 2019 by-polls there were accusations against Lobo of working against the party and party candidates, but we ignored all that, he said.

Tanavade further said that Lobo was interfering a lot in Saligao, Mapusa and Siolim areas and expressed confidence the BJP will win both the seats in Siolim and Calangute.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claimed a “few defections cannot deter our agenda of Good Governance”.

“Bharatiya Janata Party is a big family that continues to serve the motherland with full devotion! A few defections, to fulfil the agenda of greed and personal interests cannot deter our agenda of Good Governance.

Goan people have seen BJP’s governance and development model for a decade and I am sure that they will give us another term in their service. Jai Hind, Jai Goa,” Sawant tweeted.

Lobo, meanwhile said the BJP was no longer a people’s party and that the BJP had changed after Parrikar’s death (former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar). The party does not listen to its karyakartas. Loyal party workers are sidelined. The BJP is importing MLAs and leaders from other parties and forcing them upon the people and party workers who have been with the party for decades, Lobo stated.

BORIM, SHIRODA: Popular and influential social worker from the Borim panchayat area in the Shiroda constituency in Goa, Tukaram Borkar quit the All India Trinamool Congress party (TMC) in a huff, accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led party of going back on its word and not keeping its promises.

Borkar, a businessman and local builder, is extremely popular among the youth in the entire Ponda taluka as well as the constituencies of Sanvordem and Curchorem and has a following of over 5000 youth. “TMC should have double checked before making commitments to influential persons like Borkar who invested their time and money into promoting the party in the constituency,” said Dilip Naik another known Shiroda leader.

Speaking to this reporter, Borkar who has sponsored hundreds of cricket and football matches in Goa over the last 5 years, said: “I have been working very hard in the constituency as I had made up my mind to contest the elections from Shiroda constituency. I joined the TMC initially when the party came to Goa. I was promised the ticket in no uncertain terms and accordingly I went ahead with my social work and interaction with the people. Suddenly, after 3 to 5 weeks, the party teamed up with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and I came to know that the Shiroda seat was given to the MGP, as the MGP as part of its alliance deal, told the TMC that it wanted all the seats in the Ponda taluka, which includes the Shiroda constituency. The TMC is nothing but a bunch of fixers and opportunistic gold-diggers who will jump into bed with any Tom, Dick or Harry to suit their purpose. They have no morals and ethics, their promises mean nothing and they can stab you in the back, the moment your head is turned,” Borkar said fuming in anger.

According to him, the TMC had promised to set up the Goa unit and Party Committee by 15th December but nothing has happened. “The entire unit is run by Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) workers. Goans have no say whatsoever in the TMC setup in Goa. IPAC workers are deciding whom to give the ticket. We are celebrating Liberation Day today, but the TMC is colonizing Goa and Goans who have joined the party have no say in running the unit. Every single thing is dictated from Kolkata or by IPAC. We are nothing but boy scouts, marching to the tune of the Kolkata bosses,” Borkar told this reporter.

According to sources, several people who joined the TMC are likely to leave the party in the coming days as the entire unit is “controlled” by a few people in the IPAC.

Borkar who has a personal vote bank of 2500 to 4000 votes in the Shiroda constituency, had joined the TMC with nearly 1500 supporters. All of them have quit with a very bad experience.

“Prashant Kishor, IPAC and TMC do not know what they are doing. They do not know Goa and definitely not places like Shiroda. They are shooting from the hip and making vague and fake promises to Goans only to rope in members and leaders. They are desperate to get candidates and are spreading fake news via their websites, masquerading as news portals in the State to create confusion and fear. The are building castles in the air, hoodwinking and cheating Goans with false promises. The TMC is the worst political party – a bunch of liars and con men,” opined another influential businessman Ritesh Borkar from the Panchwadi panchayat (part of Shiroda constituency), and a close associate of Tukaram Borkar.

Attempts to contact TMC Goa leaders for comment proved futile, as none of them were willing to speak on the matter. TMC does not have any designated local Goan spokespersons who could be contacted for comment or clarification in Goa and the party senior leadership which boasted of contesting all 40 seats is hardly accessible to local media persons, except a few “friendly” journalists who don’t ask tough questions.

MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Mumbai hit out at its lone MLA in Goa, Churchill Alemao who merged the legislative wing of the NCP Goa Unit with the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday.

A senior NCP spokesperson in Mumbai said the party was discussing Alemao’s merger attempt with its legal team and will take legal action against the Goa MLA.

Sources said NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was furious at the development in Goa and vowed revenge.

A close aide to Pawar and a prominent NCP leader from the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg belt said, “One cannot mess around with Pawar saheb and get away with it. He (Alemao) has used the NCP as a doormat for his own selfish purpose. We will teach him a lesson in our own style. He can do what he wants to in his constituency in Benaulim, but let him try to enter Maharashtra and we will teach him a lesson he will never forget,” the leader warned.

Meanwhile in Goa, NCP State President Jose Philip D’Souza said the party would submit a petition to the speaker challenging Churchill Alemao’s claim and said the merger was illegal.

“The NCP local executive will take appropriate steps as per the decision of the high command,” said D’Souza.

D’Souza and other executive committee members held a press conference and condemned Alemao’s claims to have merged the NCP Goa legislative wing into the TMC.

“The MLA cannot merge one party into another. As per decision of our party high command, we will go to the speaker and demand action against Churchill as per law,” D’Souza was quoted by The Goan in a report.

D’Souza categorically stated that the NCP Goa legislative wing has not been merged with the TMC and that, the NCP party is very much in existence in Goa.

“We are a registered national party. A lone MLA Churchill Alemao submitting a resolution to the speaker stating that the NCP Goa legislative wing has merged in TMC has no meaning,” D’Souza told the The Goan.

Pune NCP leader Avinash Bhonsle condemned the TMC for taking in the leaders from other parties to show its existence in the State. “We don’t want to talk much about Churchill. He had supported the BJP government without consulting the party. Alemao has worked against the party. But we overlooked his misadventure for the sake of development in his constituency,” Bhonsle told The Goan.

Goa NCP leader Sanjay Barde said NCP has enough strength in Goa to fight elections on its own without Churchill Alemao. “Alemao has not talked to anyone. No office bearers were comsulted. He has acted on his own, which is illegal,” Barde said.