MARGAO
Asserting that there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics, former PWD minister Churchill Alemao on Friday said he will not say no to the Congress offer to contest the 2017 election on the party banner, even as he declared that he and Congress president Luizinho Faleiro have buried their differences.
He, however, hastened to add that he is firm in contesting the coming election from Benaulim as an independent in the event the Congress does not offer him the ticket. “There are no permanent friends and enemies in politics. I and Luizinho have left behind our differences. We are now close friends. Luizinho is my son’s godfather. In Bihar, Nitish and Lalu have come together and the duo kept the BJP at bay. Otherwise, the BJP would have continued their Hindutva politics," he said.
Churchill made it clear that if the Congress does not offer him the Benaulim ticket, he would contest the coming election as an independent.
On reports that his move to join the NCP was cold shouldered by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Churchill shot back saying he has never met Pawar. “Otherwise, let Pawar say that I have met him," he said, while admitting that local NCP leader has been in touch with him.
On allegations made by PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar that he had stopped certain works during his tenure as PWD minster, Churchill said, “Let Sudin say what he wants, but the fact remains that the sewage project has been brought by the then Congress government."
On the government’s decision to de-classify coconut as a tree, Churchill said the government has taken the wrong decision. “I was shocked to see how Panaji MLA Siddharth Kuncolienkar was batting for the decision to de-classify a coconut tree. The government’s decision was wrong," he said.
