MARGAO
If the constituency had generated intense interest among the voters after former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao kick started his comeback campaign a year ago, incumbent Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva’s decision to move out from the Goa Vikas Party and contest the coming election as an Independent has only added another dimension to Benaulim politics. That’s not all. Former Tourism
Minister and GVP supremo Mickky Pacheco who takes pride in claiming that neither he nor his candidate has lost a single election from Benaulim since he ended Churchill’s dream run in the constituency in 2002, has now resolved to field his candidate on the GVP banner to take on both Churchill and Caitu in the election. The Benaulim seat has
been virtually presided over by Mickky since 2002 when he stopped Alemao’s long political innings beginning from 1989. He defeated Churchill on the UGDP banner, won
the by-poll on the NCP and got re-elected from the constituency in the 2007 constituency,
before his Goa Vikas Party (GVP) maintained the winning streak when Caitu got the better of Churchill’s daughter Valanka in the 2012 election. “Both Churchill and Caitu will realise in 2012 the support Mickky enjoys in Benaulim. People of this constituency had rallied behind me to end Churchill’s dream run in the year 2002 and elect Caitu in the last election. Though I have shifted to Nuvem in the last election, people of Benaulim had voted for the candidate fielded by me,” he said. When Mickky’s attention was drawn to MLA Caitu’s decision to contest the coming election from Benaulim as an independent and whether the GVP will not field a candidate against his MLA, Mickky shot back, “If Caitu has decided to move out of the GVP, no one can stop him from taking such a decision. But let me make it clear the GVP has in mind a formidable woman candidate, who has the capacity to take on both Caitu and Churchill and win the seat.” GVP general secretary Lyndon Monteiro echoed similar sentiments. “Benaulim has rallied behind Mickky since 2002. He had defeated Churchill when the former Benaulim MLA’s political career was at its peak. And, he got Caitu elected on the GVP banner last time round. The Mickky factor will certainly play a huge role in Benaulim in the coming election,” Lyndon added. Commenting on his GVP supremo’s decision to field a candidate against him in the
event he contests the coming election as an independent, Caitu said, “If Mickky can claim that he or his party has not lost any election from Benaulim since 2002, let me tell you that Caitu and many others were also there to get Mickky elected. I do not know whether Mickky will field a candidate in Benaulim or not, but I will go to the people on the strength of developmental projects ushered by me in the constituency during the last four years.”
On the other hand, former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao said that it is now an open secret that he has started his campaign in Benaulim and will contest the coming polls irrespective who is in the electoral fray. “I do not know who is fielding whom in Benaulim.
All I know is that I am contesting the election either as an independent or on the
Congress banner if the party nominates me for the seat. The people of Benaulim will
take a call and not the leaders,” Churchill asserted. Besides the major players, three-time Benaulim Zilla Panchayat member and Churchill’s friend-turnedfoe, Maria Rebello, is all set to make her debut from Benaulim. Maria has started her campaign in the right earnest, but has still not unveiled her plans whether she would throw her hat in the ring
as an Independent of on a party banner. The latest entrant in Goan politics, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has set its eyes on Benaulim from day one and kick-started its election campaign from the constituency a couple of months ago, is also scouting for a formidable candidate to take on established political players.
