Panaji, April 20 (IANS) Goa's Public Works Department minister Churchill Alemao, angry over denial of ticket to his daughter Valanka, turned on his own Congress party and its South Goa candidate terming them 'dishonest'.
'If you cannot honour a written agreement to give ticket to Valanka, how can the party be trusted?' Alemao told a rally at Navelim Sunday evening in the presence of an embarrassed South Goa Congress candidate Francisco Sardinha, Goa Congress unit president Subhash Shirodkar and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
Attacking the Congress further, Alemao said that barring party president Sonia Gandhi and Shirodkar, none of the Congress leaders could be trusted.
Alemao, a legislator from Navelim, also made snide remarks about Sardinha, alleging that the sitting MP was not a popular candidate for the Lok Sabha elections.
'You would never have faced problems organising meetings if my daughter Valanka was a candidate,' he said.
Alemao also warned Sardinha that he would lose the Lok Sabha election if he campaigned with another former chief minister and Alemao's rival Luizinho Faleiro.
Alemao charged Falerio with goading Tourism Minister Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco, who is from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), to file a disqualification petition against him.
The petition, accusing Alemao and Congress legislator Reginaldo Lourence of illegally merging a regional party into the Congress after the last assembly elections, is pending before the assembly speaker.
Alemao attacked the chief minister.
'If I was the chief minister in such a situation, I would have immediately sacked Pacheco from the cabinet,' he said, questioning the logic behind a cabinet member filing a disqualification petition against his colleague.
Alemao warned that if he was disqualified, there would be consequences.
'If I am sent home, I will ensure that all go home. Twice I had shown in the past what politics is all about. Don't force me to show it again,' he said.
Rampant infighting has led to the Congress expending its energies in tracking down and pacifying rebellious leaders rather than focusing on the election campaign.
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