Khalap, Alemao support UF but oppose each other
SANDESH PRABHUDESAI, PANAJI | 04 January 1998 10:04 ISTGoa may be a small state, having only two Parliamentary seats. But its sitting MPs, both belonging to the United Front, have become a pain in the neck for the UF leaders.
Goa may be a small state, having only two Parliamentary seats. But its sitting MPs, both belonging to the United Front, have become a pain in the neck for the UF leaders.
Churchill Alemao, its South Goa MP, refuses to withdraw his party candidate against union law minister Ramakant Khalap, leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
"I don’t mind even if I am thrown out of the UF. But I will not withdraw my candidate against Khalap", asserts the South Goa MP and United Goans Democratic Party supremo.
He also reacts sharply to railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s statement that no UF constituents would be allowed to contest against each other. "All 13 constituents will stand united as a rock", quips Paswan, but declines to state whether the UF would take action.
"Let them expel me. I don’t care", says Alemao. "I also refuse to accept such guidelines, though I strongly support the UF", he adds.
The South Goa strongman learnt to be having blessings of UF leader Deve Gowda to defeat Khalap, belonging to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, since the law minister immediately shifted his allegiance to Gujral camp after his falldown.
Meanwhile, Paswan has ruled out any sort of poll understanding with Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. "We don’t want to have any relation with those who are having connection with the Congress or the BJP", he asserts.
The JD leader also claims that in Bihar exists anti-Laloo wave today, which would finish the former chief minister’s hegemony over the Northern state. He is also determined to contest from the Hajipur constituency, while confidently claiming more margin than earlier.
