Churchill skips function to induct Benjamin

GUILHERME ALMEIDA | JANUARY 23, 2022, 12:12 AM IST

What made Trinamool Congress MLA Churchill Alemao to skip party’s media briefing called to induct Congress rebel, former Velim MLA Benjamin D’Silva into the party? Sources in the know say Churchill was perturbed over the party decision to induct Benjamin when he was batting for Minister Filipe Nery Rodrigues’ entry into the TMC. Churchill, sources said, wanted to send a clear signal to the Filipe Nery camp as well as TMC local leader Adv Antonio Clovis Da Costa that he is in no way involved in bringing Benjamin into the TMC.

Filipe Nery yet to take call on future course

Did Minister Filipe Nery delay in taking a decision on his future in view of the political developments unfolding in Velim? Many believed that Filipe Nery would join the Trinamool Congress after quitting the BJP. However, denial of the Congress Velim ticket for Benjamin is believed to have changed the equations. After his supporters gave him the go-ahead signal to join the TMC, Benjamin headed to Panaji to complete the formalities. Filipe Nery, who was being invited by Churchill to join the party, had to do a rethink. Filipe Nery is yet to take a call how he would go about the ensuing polls.

Debate over Cong equation in Cuncolim, Panaji

Will Congress party’s decision to accommodate bureaucrat-turned-politician Elvis Gomes in Panaji help the Congress in his home constituency Cuncolim? This question is doing the rounds in Cuncolim political circles as it is widely believed that Elvis has been accommodated in Panaji after the party nominated Yuri Alemao for the Cuncolim seat. Political observers wonder how this equation will keep the Congress in good stead in both Cuncolim and Panaji. Wait and watch.

When Mickky was sure of getting Cong ticket

When flamboyant Mickky Pacheco embraced the Congress in mid-August last year in Delhi, he went to the town tom-tomming that he has joined the party after his candidature for Benaulim seat was cleared by the Congress High Command. In fact, Mickky’s statement had left the local Congress leaders to go on a wild hunt, to figure out from their sources in the national capital, the leaders involved in getting the former Minister into to the party. Now, Mickky has quit the Congress. Local leaders wonder how his Delhi connection could not work in getting the prized ticket.

Non-Cong member sitting in South dist office?

Who’s this non-Congress MLA sitting in the South Goa district Congress office and dictating terms to the party leaders and workers? Scribes attending a media briefing at the district office were taken back when general secretary Gina Pereira claimed that a non-Congress member has been sitting in the office. She declined to name the non-Congress member in the Congress office. Instead, she asked the media to find out the identity of the person. Is this non-Congress member really not a party member or is he a close aide of a senior party leader?

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