Goemkarponn Desk
Former twice-elected member of parliament Churchill Alemao declared he has no interest in running in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but he would back the winner of the South Goa seat.
“I’ll back the victorious candidate. We’ll wait. I will back a deserving candidate if there is one. The Congress had started a campaign against me when I first stood for the Lok Sabha in 1996, claiming that I would eventually learn how to navigate Delhi’s roads.
“We will have to support the party which supports the people of Goa,” Churchill retorted when asked if he would back the BJP in the upcoming elections.
Churchill Alemao, a former minister of PWD, stated on Friday that he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to grant dual citizenship to Goans who have obtained Portuguese passports, rather than canceling their Indian passports. He insisted that Goans have obtained Portuguese passports exclusively for work-related purposes.
Churchill claimed that his praise of the Portuguese government for granting citizenship to Goans had led to misunderstandings in some areas and that he had praised them for providing the passport facility for the people of Goa, who can use it to work abroad, particularly in Europe.
Speaking to the media, Churchill stated that people make the best judges and that he does not want to get into the debate over whether the Portuguese were good or bad. According to him, the Portuguese passport has allowed thousands of Goan children and families to travel to the UK and other European nations.
“Our Goan brothers and sisters are working in the UK and other European countries after taking advantage of the passport facility. Not only have Christians taken advantage of the Portuguese opportunity to make a living in Europe, but also Muslims and Hindus. He continued, “They have taken the Portuguese passport to support their families back home, not to settle in Portugal or other European countries.”