NCP MLA Churchill Alemao seen addressing the media on Sunday. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
The lone MLA from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa, Churchill Alemao who represents Benaulim, on Saturday said that senior Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro has every reason to quit the party after he was denied to form the Congress government in 2017, though successfully leading the party in the Assembly elections.
Churchill, however, said he has not taken any decision to leave the NCP or join the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), saying his leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel have not treated him badly till date.
The NCP MLA said party leaders are in touch with top Congress leaders to explore the possibility of an alliance to fight the 2022 election. Churchill, however, warned that the NCP has the capability to field as many as 25 formidable candidates who have the potential to win elections.
Addressing the media, Churchill said though the TMC has created a stir in the state in the last few days, the party’s future will depend on the people. Saying that he too has been approached by the party leaders, he said he has not taken any decision, saying he would consult NCP leaders.
“I have not spoken to Luizinho on his plans to join the TMC. He, however, has ground to leave the Congress if he has decided to do so as he was constantly sidelined by some leaders even after successfully leading the party in 1999 and 2917. He was hurt by the way the party leaders treated him. Though the Congress did not forge an alliance with the NCP, I took the initiative after the declaration of results in 2017 and brought two MLAs. But, it was Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh who did not give the letter having the support of 21 MLAs to the Governor”, Churchill said, even as he challenged the Congress to prove him wrong on the delay by Digvijay Singh to hand over the letter to the Governor.
The NCP MLA further said that he never handed any written letter to either the BJP or the Governor expressing his support to the Pramod Sawant government. “I had decided to verbally extend issue based support to Pramod Sawant since he hailed from the Bahujan Samaj and had taken all the people together to take the state forward”, he said, adding that he had opposed the government on certain issues, including the controversial Citizenship Act and coal project.
