The first NRI minister...
Sandesh Prabhudesai
29 June 2002
'Loha lohe ko kataa hai' is
the new slogan of Indian politics. The people of Benaulim,
a coastal constituency in South Goa housing series of
five star hotels, were eagerly waiting for a political
'avataar' to take birth, to defeat one-time smuggler
and strongman Churchill Alemao.
And the 'avataar' arrived in
Benaulim, to finish the supremacy of Alemaos, the name
in football publicly but having been alleged for all
sorts of goondagiri, extortion and real estate deals.
Thy name is Mickky Pacheco.
The 36-year old US-based fashion designer
made the strongest man in the state bite dust, spreading
a wave of shock throughout the state. Perhaps he is
the first NRI getting elected from Goa and holding ministerial
position today.
Born in a village of Betalbatim, near
the famous Colva beach, Mickky was running his small
fashion business in Margao till 1980, at the age of
14 years. He then shifted to Europe and then the US,
becoming the US citizen formally in 1989.
In 10 years, he became a powerful businessman
in the New York, running six different firms there,
in the field of fashion, real estate, travel and tours
as well as recruitment.
"My villagers forced me to come back
and contest against Churchill, whom I have been financing
right from the beginning", claims Mickky, one of the
young businessmen politicians that have entered the
Goa Assembly.
To counter Churchill, he has preferred
the same tourism and sports portfolios the strongman
was holding otherwise during the Congress regime.
He is the Indian citizen now since
'99, but compelled to travel down to the US time and
again. Goa will now have a tourism minister, who will
be frequently on a tour…
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