Alemaos humbled Jul 30th, 2011 | Category: Cover Story, Lead Story By Rajan Narayan The Alemaos were rebuffed by Sonia Gandhi who not only refused to to review Valanka’s disqualification, but held out the threat that they would lose the lucrative PWD and urban development portfolios. IT ALL started with the Rajya Sabha election. With Shantaram Naik completing his term of six years in the Rajya Sabha, the seat had fallen vacant. I understand that the president of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, was very keen on nominating Luizinho Faleiro, general secretary of the AICC in charge of the North East, as the Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections. Apparently, Sonia Gandhi has been very happy with Luizinho Faleiro’s performance in keeping Congress governments intact in the North East and his efforts at destabilising the CPM government in Manipur. The incumbent Minister for the North East has been very ill for some time now and Sonia Gandhi apparently had also decided to induct Luizinho Faleiro into the cabinet as the Minister in charge of the North East. The only question mark was whether it would be possible to get Luizinho Faleiro elected to the Rajya Sabha from Goa. HIGH COMMAND THE moment the Congress High Command included Luizinho Faleiro’s name in the list of probable candidates for the Rajya Sabha seat, I understand that Churchill Alemao and company rushed to Delhi and threatened to vote against Luizinho Faleiro. Alemao’s apprehension was that if his bitter enemy Luizinho Faleiro was inducted into the cabinet, he would have more power and may undermine his position in the Navelim constituency. Digamber Kamat apparently had his own reservations about Luizinho Faleiro being nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Luizinho had made a lot of enemies when he was the chief minister in Goa and it seemed increasingly difficult to get Luizinho elected in the face of the BJP deciding to field a candidate and openly inviting dissident Congress MLAs and its alliance partners to defeat the Congress candidate. So, at the last moment, the Congress High Command developed cold feet and decided to re-nominate Shantaram Naik as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections. COLD FEET In the back drop, another drama was being played out. Out of the blue, Valanka Alemao, who is a recent entrant into the Youth Congress as against her rival Pratima Coutinho, the wife of former president of the Margao Municipal Council Savio Coutinho, decided to throw her hat into the ring for the post of the president of the Youth Congress. Not because Valanka had any great interest in either the youth of Goa or the Youth Congress, but because, traditionally, the Youth Congress president has at least been able to stake a claim for an Assembly ticket. The chances of Youth Congress presidents and office bearers being nominated for Congress tickets not only for Legislative Assembly elections, but even for Parliamentary elections has brightened after Rahul Gandhi took over the reins of the Youth Congress. In fact, in recent elections to state assemblies, several Youth Congress leaders have been given tickets to contest Assembly elections and some of them have even won Assembly elections and been inducted into the cabinets. Unlike in the past, Rahul Gandhi had decided that office bearers of the Youth Congress would be elected and not nominated. To ensure that there would be no favoritism and that there would be no rigging of elections, Rahul Gandhi had tied up with an NGO called Foundation for Advanced Mangement of Elections (FAME) started by former Chief Election Commissioner James Lyngdoh, who were entrusted with the responsibility of deciding whether the aspiring candidates had followed the correct procedure. One of the conditions laid down in the hand book or code of conduct given to all prospective candidates who aspire to the position of office bearers in the Youth Congress was that they would not canvass with the party officials or the chief minister and ministers or seek endorsement from Congress politicians holding positions of power in the state. So much so, when Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, along with other Congress leaders, endorsed and recommended the candidature of Valanka to the post of Youth Congress president, the authorities entrusted with conducting the poll held her guilty of malpractice. Her case was referred to the NGO headed by Lyngdoh. She was issued a show cause notice and asked why she should not be disqualified from contesting the Youth Congress elections. The Youth Congress elections were scheduled for the same day as that of the Rajya Sabha elections to nominate a member to the Rajya Sabha from Goa. The Youth Congress High Command, essentially meaning Rahul Gandhi, announced postponement of the elections. DIPLOMATIC MOVE This was a diplomatic move to ensure that the Alemao brothers would behave themselves and that there would be no obstacle in getting the Congress candidate Shantaram Naik elected to the Rajya Sabha. In the event, Shantaram Naik won the Rajya Sabha elections by a margin of 24 votes to the 14 polled by his rival BJP candidate Damu Naik. Mickky Pacheco did not turn up to vote. Dayanand Narvekar, no doubt to show his displeasure over being dropped from the Digamber Kamat government, deliberately filled the nomination form incorrectly so that his vote would be deemed invalid. The day after the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress High Command — perhaps instigated by Luizinho Faleiro, who is reported to have become close to Rahul Gandhi — struck. The Youth Congress disqualified Valanka from contesting the elections on grounds that she had resorted to canvassing, which was against the rules. She was also penalised and it was made clear that she could not contest any elections, at least on the Congress ticket, for one year. Which automatically rules out the Congress High Command giving her the Congress ticket to contest the Benaulim seat because elections to the Goa Legislative Assembly, even in the normal course will have to be held before June 2012, when the term of the present Assembly expires. What agitated Churchill Alemao was not just the disqualification of Valanka, but the penalty that she could not contest any election on the Congress ticket for one year. Joaquim Alemao, who normally steers his own course and is self centred to the core, decided to join Churchill in a display of indignation because he was concerned about the Congress ticket he was seeking for his son Yuri. In an emotional fit of anger, both the Alemaos submitted their resignations not only from the Digamber Kamat cabinet, but also as primary members of the Congress party, presuming that, as in the past, the act of blackmail would succeed and that the Youth Congress would reconsider the disqualification. RAHUL’S RULING BUT Rahul Gandhi made it clear that there was no question of reconsidering the verdict of the NGO which had ruled that Valanka was guilty of violating the code of conduct laid down for the Youth Congress elections. The Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, disgusted with attempts of blackmail by various state level Congress leaders, apparently advised Digamber Kamat to accept Churchill and Joaquim Alemao’s resignation letters. But it did not suit Digamber Kamat to antagonise the Alemaos and lose their support in the run up to the Assembly elections in Goa. A lot has changed on the ground in terms of electoral equations and arithmetic since the agitation for extending grants to English medium schools began. Though Digamber Kamat finally conceded the demand, it is Churchill Alemao who has claimed or is given the credit for pressurising the Digamber Kamat government to extend grants to English medium primary schools at the behest of the Diocesan Soceity of Education. It was the Diocesan Society of Education which was among the first to switch to Konkani in Devnagiri as the medium of instruction at the primary level in 1981 when then education minister Shashikala Kakodkar decided to limit grants only to vernacular medium schools. With enrollment in the Diocesan schools dropping drastically, with more and more parents preferring to send their children to English medium schools, the Society had reversed its stand and had primarily instigated the agitation to extend grants also to English medium primary schools. Churchill was the first to jump on the bandwagon though, at the time Shashikala had taken the decision to withdraw grants to English medium Diocesan schools, he did not protest. On the contrary, if I recall correctly, Churchill Alemao was entirely in favour of grants being denied to English medium primary schools. With Churchill having emerged as the champion of the Diocesan Society of Eduation, which has a great deal of influence with the minority Christian community, Digamber Kamat was keen not to lose his support of the Alemaos, particularly Churchill Alemao who now controls the Catholic vote bank in Margao, his constituency. It is with the view to securing his own kodel and his own Assembly seat that Digamber Kamat rushed to Delhi to plead with the Congress High Command to review the disqualification of Valanka from contesting the Youth Congress elections. With Rahul Gandhi standing firm on the suspension, Digamber Kamat tried to persuade the Congress High Command to appease the Alemao brothers by assuring them tickets for Valanka and Yuri in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Forget about getting an appointment with Sonia Gandhi, even Ahmed Patel, Sonia’s political advisor, refused to meet Digamber Kamat. This is obvious from the Chief Minister’s statement on his return to Goa that he had telephonically appraised Ahmed Patel of the situation. BUTTER PILL What of the Alemao brothers? They were summoned to Delhi by the Congress High Command Observer Jagmeet Singh Brar, who is reputed to be a close confidant of Luizinho Faleiro when they were attending a function in Margao on Sunday. They were asked to reach the national capital Delhi on the same night. Delhi sources told Goan Observer that the Alemao brothers were given an ultimatum by the Congress High Command. Ahmed Patel apparently made it clear to them that there is no question of reviewing the disqualification. They were also told that they were free to resign from the cabinet and the primary membership of the Congress party if they so desired. It was hinted that if Churchill Alemao resigned from the cabinet and the primary membership of the Congress party, Luizinho Faleiro may be inducted into the cabinet as PWD Minister. Anyone can be made a minister provided he is elected to the Legislative Assembly within six months of his appointment. With the Congress deciding to dissolve the Legislative Assembly in November, Luizinho Faleiro would have been able to continue as PWD Minister without even seeking election to the Legislative Assembly. I also understand that in the light of the fact that the Congress High Command was not willing to relent, Joaquim Alemao had second thoughts and agreed that he would not press his resignation from the cabinet. Which left Churchill Alemao isolated. NO PROMISES The Alemaos have returned from Delhi without succeeding in their mission to persuade the Congress High Command to review the decision of the Youth Congress to disqualify Valanka from contesting the Youth Congress elections. The promise to give due weightage to Valanka in Benaulim is a figment of Churchill Alemao’s imagination. In any case, it does not mean anything as Valanka has been disqualified from contesting any elections for at least one year. Churchill has no choice but to accept the situation and put on a brave face. Churchill’s claim that the Congress high Command has recognised the role played by the Alemao brothers in strengthening the Congress has not been formally endorsed by even Jagmeet Singh Brar. Nor is there any commitment on the part of the Congress High Command to consider granting the party ticket to Valanka. CHURCHILL SPEAK EVEN Churchill admits that "Patel has described Valanka as intelligent who is working hard for the party in Benaulim. He wanted Valanka to take a top post in the Congress organisation, but Valanka told Patel that she was not hankering after the post." When Churchill was questioned by the media specifically on whether the party had assured a ticket for Valanka to contest from Benaulim, all Churchill had to say was that the Congress High Command had recognised the work put in both by Valanka in Benaulim and Yuri in Sangem respectively. It is only a fond father’s delusion that Valanka will get the Congress ticket from Benaulim. It is based on the belief that Valanka would be third time lucky. To quote Churchill: "Twice Valanka was denied the party ticket. This time, the High Command will definitely recognise her work. Brar, however, has limited himself to saying that the party would give due weightage to Valanka’s claims for a ticket to Benaulim. The only tangible benefit that Churchill and Joaquim seemed to have achieved from the resignation drama that they staged was the promise that they would not be displaced from the PWD and the urban development portfolios which they hold in the Digamber Kamat cabinet. There has been pressure from colleagues of the Alemaos in the cabinet and from the Congress High Command to relieve all non performing ministers and those against whom there are complaints of corruption from the cabinet. Churchill was apparently rapped on the knuckles and told that the Congress High Command did not take kindly to his frequent resignation threats and that it was seriously thinking of shuffling portfolios. DISQUALIFICATION Churchill has more to fear than just being deprived of the very lucrative Public Works Department portfolio. The Congress party has also been keeping the sword of disqualification hanging over the heads of Churchill Alemao and Reginald Lourenco. With the Election Commission ruling that the Save Goa Front continues to exist as a regional party, the speaker Pratapsingh Raoji Rane has served notice on Churchill Alemao and Reginald Lourenco on their claim that the SGF has merged with the Congress and has ceased to exist. The procedures require that the organisational wing of a party also has to merge and it is not enough if only the legislative party merges with another party. By far the biggest loser in the resignation drama has been the Chief Minister. Digameber Kamat’s only motivation in rushing to Delhi in defence of Valanka was to ensure that Pratima Coutinho would not win the contest for the presidency of the Youth Congress. Pratima Coutinho, in fact, had the support of the Alemao brothers till Valanka decided to contest. Pratima, who has been a Youth Congress member for over a decade, also has the support of Vijay Sardesai, general secretary of the Congress in the state who aspires to get the Congress ticket for the Fatorda seat. In fact, the Valanka disqualification and the Churchill resignation drama has created a rift between Vijay Sardesai and the Alemaos. The Valanka disqualification from the resignation drama staged by the Alemaos has further lowered them in the eyes of the electorate. Benaulikars are reportedly disgusted with the antics of the Alemao parivar. In the process of getting a ticket for Valanka for the Benaulim assembly seat, Churchill may only have succeeded in exposing himself to ridicule and even endangering his chances of being re-elected on the Congress ticket from Navelim. Given the stormy nature of the reception that the Alemao brothers received in Delhi, it is almost certain that they will be either expelled from the party or leave the Congress party and return to the SGF so that the Alemao parivar can secure tickets not only for themselves, but for Valanka and Yuri also. Digamber Kamat has also raised questions in the High Command about his ability to provide either stable or good governance.
