Churchill Braz Alemao (born 16 May 1949) is a former Chief Minister and former MP of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He was the MLA of Benaulim constituency in the state of Goa.

Political career

Alemao was chief minister of Goa for a brief period in the early 1990s, and later became an MP representing the

South Goa (Lok Sabha constituency) South Goa Lok Sabha constituency (Mormugao prior to 2008) is one of two Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Goa in western India along with North Goa. Assembly segments Presently, South Goa Lok Sabha constituency comprises 20 Vidhan Sa ...

from 1996 to 1998.

Founding United Goans Democratic Party

Alemao founded the

United Goans Democratic Party United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) is one of two formerly dominant political parties in the Indian state of Goa. UGDP has its base amongst the Christian part of the population. It was founded in 1983 by Churchill Alemao. In Goa, the UGDP is h ...

as an spinoff of the

United Goans Party The United Goans Party is a political party in state of Goa. It was formed in 1963 in the former union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu, with Jack de Sequeira as its party leader, when multiple regional parties merged during the Konkani langua ...

Congress days

In the late 1980s, Alemao quit the United Goans Democratic Party and joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

. He became Chief Minister for a 18 days as part of the Progressive Democratic Front led by Congress. He had to resign due to an internal split in the party. After that Luis Proto Barbosa became chief minister. Later, Alemao became an MP as Congress leader.

Save Goa Front

In March 2007, Alemao quit Congress and formed a regional party, the

Save Goa Front The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. The party contested 17 seats and won 2, including his seat and Aleixo Lourenco's. After the election, no party won a majority and the Save Goa Front joined the Congress-led alliance to form a government.

Return to Congress

In January 2008, Alemao merged the Save Goa Front with Congress. He continued as an MLA and Minister in Goa during this period.

March 2012 elections

In the March 2012 elections to the Legislative Assembly of Goa, Alemao lost to independent candidate Avertano Furtado by a margin of over 2000 votes. His brother Joaqium Alemao, who was then Minister in the

Government of Goa The Government of Goa is a state government created by the Constitution of India and has executive, legislative and judicial authority of the state of Goa. It is headquartered in Panaji, the capital city of Goa. History The governor's role ...

, also lost as he could not retain his Cuncolim constituency. Churchill Alemao's daughter Valanka and Joaquim's son Yuri also lost the 2012 elections. All four candidates from the Alemao family suffered defeat. Churchill Alemao later blamed the then Chief Minister of Goa,

Digambar Kamat Digambar Kamat (born 8 March 1954) is an Indian politician. He was the Chief Minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012. Manohar Parikar succeeded him after his term as the Chief Minister of Goa. From 2006 to 2019, he was the president of Swimming Fed ...

and the Electronic

Voting Machines A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use ''electronic voting machines''. Traditionally, a voting machine has been defin ...

for his defeat.

Entry into the All India Trinamool Congress

In 2014, after his daughter Valanka Alemao was denied candidature by the

party in the elections to the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

from the

South Goa South Goa district is one of two districts that comprises the state of Goa, India, within the region known as the Konkan. It is bounded by North Goa district to the north, the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state to the east and south, while ...

, Alemao resigned from the

and announced that he would contest the polls as an independent candidate. Two days later, Alemao joined the

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

and was formally inducted in the party by

Madan Mitra Madan Mitra (born 3 December 1954) is an Indian politician, and social media sensation. Madan Mitra started his career with party Indian National Congress. He held many positions of Indian Youth Congress, the party's youth wing. In 1998, he joi ...

, a Minister of State in the Government of West Bengal. He contested the elections to the

from the

as a candidate of the

and was defeated by Narendra Keshav Sawaikar of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

. Alemao polled 11,941 votes in these elections.

Joining Nationalist Congress Party

On 17 October 2016 Alemao joined the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party i ...

(NCP) and declared his intent to contest the election on the NCP ticket. He won the

Benaulim Benaulim is a village in the state of Goa, India. Located in Salcete taluka of South Goa district, it neighbours Colva village to the north, Margao in the northeast and Varca village to the south. During Portuguese rule, it was one of the n ...

seat in

2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election : The Goa Legislative Assembly election, 2017 was held on February 4, 2017 to elect the 40 members of the Seventh Goa Legislative Assembly, as the term of Sixth Legislative Assembly ended on March 18, 2017. VVPAT-fitted EVMs was used in entir ...

Return to AITC

Alemao again joined AITC on 13 December 2021.

Football

The football team

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually parti ...

, which is currently competing in

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the wi ...

, is owned by Alemao's family. His daughter Valanka Alemao is current CEO of the club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alemao, Churchill India MPs 2004–2009 Indian National Congress politicians from Goa Living people India MPs 1996–1997 Lok Sabha members from Goa Trinamool Congress politicians from Goa Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Goa Corruption in Goa Indian prisoners and detainees Members of the Goa Legislative Assembly 1949 births Goa MLAs 2017–2022 People from Benaulim Indian politicians convicted of crimes United Goans Democratic Party politicians Chief Ministers of Goa Indian football executives Indian sports executives and administrators Indian football chairmen and investors