Churchill, Valanka meet Didi in Kolkata, discuss modalities

Margao: Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Benaulim MLA

Churchill

Alemao, along with his daughter

Valanka

, held a meeting with West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo

Mamata

Banerjee at Kolkata on Monday. The meeting is believed to be a precursor to the duo’s entry into the Banerjee-led party.

Speaking to TOI from Kolkata, Alemao described the meeting with Banerjee as cordial but declined to reveal what transpired.

“When I met

Didi

during her recent visit to Goa, both of us were called to meet her in Kolkata. We had a good discussion with her today, but I am yet to take any decision about joining TMC. I will announce my decision in a couple of days,” Alemao told TOI.

However, sources close to the Alemaos indicated that the Benaulim MLA is inclined to make the switch to TMC provided his negotiations with Banerjee work in his favour. While tickets to both — for himself from Benaulim, and for Valanka from Navelim — is likely to be Alemao’s primary demand, his close associates hinted that he could be eyeing the state party president’s post for himself in the bargain. As a source chose to put it, “The terms, conditions and

modalities

for joining TMC are still being worked out.”

Alemao had set a deadline of November 29 for his party leadership to decide on the alliance with Congress, failing which, he had said, he would be free to take his own decision.

His growing propensity towards TMC was evident recently when he described Banerjee as “a firebrand fighter, just like me”. “Didi is a big political force to reckon with,” he had said.

Soon after Luizinho Faleiro resigned as Navelim MLA to join TMC two months ago, Alemao had announced that Valanka would be contesting from Navelim. Sources said that Alemao gave a serious thought to crossing over to TMC only on Faleiro’s prodding. Alemao had trounced Faleiro in Navelim in the 2007 polls contesting on the Save Goa Front party.

In the 2012 polls, all four from the Alemao family were trounced by first-time contestants — Churchill was defeated by BJP-backed independent candidate Avertano Furtado in Navelim, his brother Joaquim lost to BJP’s Subhash Naik in Cuncolim, Valanka was defeated by Goa Vikas Party’s Caetano Silva in Benaulim, and Joaquim’s son Yuri lost to BJP’s Subhash Phal Dessai in Sanguem.

In the 2017 polls, however, while both Valanka and Yuri didn’t contest, Churchill won from Benaulim on the NCP ticket, but Joaquim, contesting as an independent, lost.

Churchill is not new to TMC. He had unsuccessfully contested on TMC from the south Goa parliamentary seat in 2014.