Goa minister Churchill Alemao blames CM for his defeat
"Kamat had worked against me. He is one of the reasons why I was defeated," said Alemao, who along with three of his family members lost in the March 3 polls.
Alemao also claimed that rigging of Electronic Voting Machines and Catholic priests appealing people to vote against Congress were the reasons for his defeat. "Almost 80 per cent of Catholic priests worked against Congress. They worked for BJP," Churchill said yesterday.
Alemao who contested from Navelim, his brother and urban development minister Joaquim Alemao(Cuncolim), his daughter Valanka (Benaulim)and nephew Yuri Sanguem) lost the elections.
Outgoing Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who has come in line of fire following the defeat, said that things would have been different if the party were to fight elections under his leadership.
"Party did not project me as CM. People might have thought that I was being sidelined," he said while pointing out that Congress had not lost a single election fought in Goa during the last five years, under his leadership.
Vishwajit
Rane,
outgoing
health
minister,
who
along
with
his
father
Pratapsingh
Rane
got
elected,
said
that
the
leaders
should
take
collective
responsibility
for
the
defeat.
"It
was
the
responsibility
of
individual
candidates
to
ensure
that
they
win
in
their
own
constituencies,"
he
said
vaguely
referring
to
Alemao’s
statement.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has decided to introspect and formed a committee for the purpose.
"We will form a committee that will go into all the aspects," said P Sudhakar Reddy, Secretary, All India Congress Committee.
Reddy, who is down in Goa holding discussion with the party leaders, said that he would make a constituency-wise report.
He also ruled out that defeat was because the party had given tickets to many family members of the leaders.
"Out of five families, three of them have got elected," Reddy pointed out.
PTI