LS Polls: Churchill, Valanka to campaign for BJP, even as Valanka eyes Navelim ticket for 2027

BENAULIM: Political pundits in Goa have averred that former CM and ex-Benaulim MLA, Churchill Alemao and his daughter Valanka will aggressively campaign for the Bhartiya Janta Party in South Goa, particularly in the constituencies of Benaulim and Navelim, even as Valanka is expecting a BJP ticket from the Navelim constituency in the next State Assembly polls in 2027.

“As the Goa unit of the Congress has completely closed its doors on the father-daughter duo and other parties (like the Trinamool Congress) do not have a foothold in Goa, both Churchill and Valanka have decided that the BJP is the only way for them; and with the party being in power both at the Centre and in Goa, they stand a good chance of making it to the treasury benches of the State Legislature in 2027,” opines Ashton Gomes, a former journalist from Navelim and presently based in Qatar.

 Valanka has made her intentions known time and again that she wants to contest either from Benaulim or Navelim and in the 2022 polls, she was the AITC (Trinamool) candidate and pulled 4,738 votes in Navelim.

Similarly, Churchill also contested on the TMC banner the same year. Venzy Viegas of the Aam Aadmi Party won the Benaulim seat by defeating Churchill Alemao of the All India Trinamool Congress with a margin of 1271 votes.

Now with the Lok Sabha polls barely about 50 days away, both Churchill and Valanka have hit the ground promoting the saffron party in the two constituencies of South Goa, while waiting for an official announcement vis-a-vis the official BJP candidate.

Churchill had plans of contesting the Lok Sabha polls as an independent, but has been advised against doing it, though the possibility still remains depending on whom the BJP and Congress nominate as their South Goa candidates. Either way, the former Benaulim MLA has activated his workers and is awaiting the announcement of the candidates by both the national parties before taking a final call on his future course of action.

We are waiting for an update from Churchill regarding his plans for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and will update this post as and when he makes an announcement.