MARGAO
In an interesting development, MLA Churchill Alemao on Wednesday skipped a meeting of the national executive committee of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Mahila wing held at Benaulim on the pretext that he is busy with football.
NCP Goa unit President Jose Philip D’Souza, however, said whether Churchill leaves the NCP or not will be known on November 29, the day when the Party lone MLA is expected to take a call on his political future.
Jose Philip pointed out that the Congress leaders have now given indications that the principal opposition party will take a call on the alliance with the NCP in the coming days.
“The NCP Mahila wing held its national executive committee in Benaulim today. I had invited Churchill for the meeting, but the Benaulim MLA has told me that he is busy with football,” Jose Philip said, when asked to comment on Churchill’s absence.
When the media questioned whether people can expect a political bomb to explode on November 29, the day Churchill has set to unveil his political future, the NCP president shot back, “Let us wait and see what happens on November 29. I have kept our party supremo Sharad Pawar and national general secretary Praful Patel abreast on Churchill’s November 29 deadline.”
Saying that the NCP is a national party, Jose Philip said, “Let us wait and see whether the bomb will be diffused before November 29. One has to understand that the NCP is a political party. No doubt, Churchill is the party’s lone MLA in Goa, but we know how to take the party forward.”
Jose Philip sought to dish out the impression that the NCP will not be affected in the event the political bomb explodes on November 29.
On alliance with the Congress, he said the party has been approaching the Congress with the alliance offer, but in vain. “Till date the alliance has not taken place though there are hardly two months for the election,” he said.
Jose Philip, however, said that he had spoken to the Congress Goa desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao on the issue of alliance, saying he has told the Congress leader to take a decision on the alliance at the earliest.
NCP National Mahila President Dr Fauziya Khan told the meeting that the national executive of the Mahila NCP had met in Goa to deliberate on a host of issues, including 33 per cent reservations for women, issue on women empowerment, employment, etc.
