Panaji, Mar 7: Uttar Pradesh may have seen the rise of a prodigal ‘son' in Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, but dynastic politics proved to be Congress' nemesis in Goa where several of its top leaders and their kin were defeated in the assembly elections.
The Goans inflicted crushing defeat on the Alemao family headed by former Chief Minister Churchill Alemao, the largest beneficiary of the party's generosity, as all four of its members in the fray lost.
The powerful Alemao family, which owns Goa's famous football club ‘Churchill Brothers', bore the brunt of the electorate's rejection as Churchill himself, his daughter Valanka, brother Joaquim and his son Yuri, fell by the wayside.
Both Churchill and Joaquim were ministers in the Congress-led Digambar Kamat government. Two other Congress families—Naiks and Madkaikars— also faced humiliation at the hands of the voters.
Ravi Naik, a serving minister and former Chief Minister, and his son Ritesh, too bit the dust in Ponda and Madkai constituencies where they lost to Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party candidates.
Pandurang Madkaikar, sitting MLA from Cumbharjua, won the poll but his brother Dhaku Madkaikar lost from Priol to MGP's Dipak Dhavalikar.
However, two other prominent Congress families managed to buck the trend.
Education minister Atanasio Monserratte managed to win St Cruz seat, while his wife Jeniffer won from Taleigao. Assembly speaker Pratapsingh Rane, a former Chief Minister, and his son Vishwajit also succeeded in evading the ominous anti-incumbency factor to win Poriem and Valpoi seats respectively.
The election saw big upsets with ministers like Manohar Asgaonkar, Filip Nery Rodrigues, Jose Philip D'Souza and Aleixo Sequeira being defeated.
“We got defeated because of family raj issue. We have suffered because of it,” outgoing sports minister Manohar Gaonkar, who lost from Pernem, told PTI. Congress' tally slumped to nine from 16 in 2007.
