Quest For Benaulim With both Micky and Churchill out of the fray in Benaulim, it has opened the chance of a battle royal between three new comers, papa’s girl Valanka Alemao and the two hard working self made men Dr Hubert Gomes and Caitu
Papa Churchill Alemao has been fighting tooth and nail to push his daughter into politics for quite a while now, initially papa Alemao threatened to bring down the Congress Government when Ms Valanka was refused a ticket by the Congress for the Parliamentary election, then again papa Alemao and uncle Alemao nearly got evicted from the Congress for creating a ruckus when Ms Valanka was disqualified from contesting for the coveted Youth Congress post for using papa’s political clout for support but still the Alemao clan have not given up hope for a ticket, not just for Ms Valanka but for cousin Yuri as well, so that Goan politics can be a family affair for the Alemao clan. After months of inaugurating hot-mixing of roads and the distribution of sarees and food items now comes the testing time for the new comer to the ugly world of Goan politics, Ms Valanka has the blessings of political history in her family, her own dad and uncle are ministers in the present coalition Government in Goa, who more than once tried to dislodge Digambar Kamat from the CM’s chair to make way for the elder Alemao sibling to take over but so far failed at every attempt, so now reinforcements are sought in way of seats for Ms Valanka and Yuri to increase their bargaining or blackmailing power but what bothers me most is, why should these two young kids be thrown into the fiery ring of Goan political fire, when they could have had good employment opportunities as watchmen at Rahejas ? Ms Valanka, though supposed to be a lawyer, has been riding piggyback on papa Alemao’s broad back all through her advent into Goan politics and papa Alemao has been seen constantly watching and guiding her like a hawk but she has nothing of her own accord to show for, as her work of art or achievement. People have also questioned her source of income, she has tried to buy vote by distributing goodies to people in her constituency, she has not been practicing law so from where does she get her income ? On the other hand Dr Hubert is also a new entrant in to Goan politics, who at first did not have any political ambitions, he was contented and secure in his profession but his involvement in the social welfare of his people woke him up to the reality and the unhealthy state of affairs in his constituency and Goa, the realization of the levels of corruption prompted him to be a part of the system to clean the rotting system. It’s a fact that we have to be in the system to rectify the system, as trying to clean the system from outside the system is not just possible. Since then he has promised to fight to bring about the much required change in his constituency as well as Goa, and we all know how generous Dr. Hubert has been to the poor and the needy and involved in the constructive developmental plan of his constituency. Dr. Hubert has proved time and again what he stands for and the people of Benaulim have realized that in him there could be a chance to contribute to the constructive development and preservation of Goa and our Goan Identity. Dr. Hubert does not have a father or godfather who is a politician at present and he certainly does not need one nor does he dance on the inherited fortune of his family through legal or illegal means. He is a determined professional who is totally humane, honest and a sincere man and that is the difference between Valanka and Dr. Hubert. So Dr. Hubert should be the ideal choice of the people of Benaulim. There are two others who vying for the Benaulim constituency, John is one of them, we all know after a close fight in the last elections, he did garner a lot of support then but today with allegations and his being in and out of jail for a considerable time for an alleged attempted rape of a foreigner, has hurt his image even though the court has given him the benefit of doubt for lack of sufficient evidence but will he manage to garner the same support that he had at the last election? It is no secret that he has vengeance in mind as he had been blaming Mickey for framing him is the rape case, rumours are that he is in the Churchill camp now and that he is using John to eat into the votes of Dr. Hubert and Caitu. Caitu is another self made man who has been a strong Mickey supporter from the very beginning and hence rewarded with GVP ticket, the Gulf returned is know to be a good person and even though his financial power is nothing compared to the two former MLA’s of Benaulim, even then he has been involved in social work and Panchayat affairs in Benaulim and is said to have good support, he certainly looks on the anti Alemao and anti John feelings in Benaulim to take him to success but he may be at a disadvantage because of his links to Micky whose image has suffered very badly over the last two years. If information received from sources is true then it looks like it’s going to be a tough fight in Benaulim and in a four way tie, there is no certainty who will win, as votes that will be disbursed and divided, as they will be eating into each others votes. If Mickey and Caitu are really interested in defeating Valanka, they should withdraw and support Dr. Hubert because if it’s a two way contest than Dr Hubert will surely come up tops. John on his own will not be a threat to either Valanka or Dr Hubert. On the other hand, if things go as planned for the Alemaos and they win all the four seats then be assured that the oversized butt of Churchill Alemao will surely be perched in the Chief Minister’s chair of the next Goa Assembly and as such miners and builders will go on rampage and have all the fun for the next five years, we just don’t want that to happen, do we ? Vote for clean and good governance down with the Alemaos. Freddy Agnelo Fernandes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------