SHILLONG: In a unique attempt to expose the wrongdoings of the Congress-led MUA-II Coalition Government, the principal Opposition UDP has framed a ‘chargesheet’ on four counts against Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma.
Releasing the ‘chargesheet’ in the form of a booklet titled ‘ABCD of MUA-II’ before the media on Monday, UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh said that the people of the State have enough ground to ‘chargesheet’ the Congress-led government due to its inability to probe the alleged nexus of the Chief Minister with militants, the education scam, the need to arrest scam tainted JHADC chief MB Rymbai and the inability of the Government to construct the Assembly building for the last 13 years while the Chief Minister had constructed a palatial building for him within six months.
Explaining the ‘ABCD of MUA-II’, Lyngdoh said ‘A’ stands for Accused, ‘B’ for Blacklisted, ‘C’ stands for Charge sheeted while ‘D’ means Discredited.
The UDP asked the Chief Minister to step down to facilitate a CBI or NIA investigation into these allegations and also stressed on the need for imposing President’s Rule in Meghalaya.
The party has also decided to send the copy of the booklet of the charge sheet to the President and the Prime Minister.
“The accused Chief Minister will also be served with a copy of the chargesheet,” Lyngdoh said.
According to the UDP, a grievous charge against the Meghalaya Chief Minister was made recently by the militant outfit ANVC (B) claiming of having credible evidence of the Chief Minister’s close nexus with the militants, under whose patronage and instance, the militants worked in favour of the Congress party to ensure a landslide victory in the last Assembly elections and to install him in the office of the Chief Minister.
The immediate reaction from the State Police a day after this revelation was the gory incident of gunning down of four ANVC (B) militants in Tura, including the outfit’s political secretary Ajaju Marak, who had made this revelation public, the UDP said.
The official truce with the ANVC, comprising special favours to them in the proposed expansion of GHADC and others, which was altogether approved by the State Cabinet in 2013, confirms the links, the UDP leader said.
The booklet pointed out that former Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh had been found guilty of tampering with the results of qualified candidates, who were selected through examination and interviews conducted by the Education Department for appointment as assistant teachers in various LP Schools in 2012.
Under the instance and direct order of the Minister, as many as 250 qualified candidates from the successful list were denied appointment.
“In their places the Minister and her cronies gave appointment to under qualified candidates. It was only after the aggrieved candidates filed a complaint against the injustice done, that the CBI investigated the case and found that the crime had been committed,” the UDP ‘chargesheet’ said, adding that it was shocking that the guilty Minister is not only protected but is still in the Ministry, despite strong reactions and demands made by many NGOs and others.
UDP working president Bindo Lanong reminded that in the case of former Haryana Chief Minister Omprakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala, who were found guilty of appointing surreptitiously many LP school teachers in 2009, the CBI Court in Haryana had sentenced the duo to ten years in jail.
Highlighting the JHADC scam, the UDP said that it was no other than the Congress Chief Executive Member of the JHADC (Madonbai Rymbai) who was found of having committed a financial defalcation of over Rs.2 crore. He personally withdrew the money from his own office in the names of about 89 beneficiaries, the UDP alleged, while citing the RTI reports.
According to the booklet of the ‘chargesheet’, the local NGOs, the beneficiaries and others, filed several complaints against the CEM. “Amazingly, a week has elapsed, but the police have not yet been able to arrest the CEM, who interestingly is contesting the district council election slated for February 24. All this is possible for the simple fact that the CEM belongs to the same party as the Chief Minister,” the chargesheet said.
The UDP also pointed out that the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly has of late come under severe criticism for unabated corruption and scams.
“The State Assembly building was gutted in a fire in January 2001, and till now the new building has not come up due to the failure of the Government to select the site, although in 2008 the Selection Committee had finalised the same site for erecting the building and a reputed construction company from Mumbai had submitted several designs on the site plan for a modern four storied structure,” the booklet said, adding that instead of an Assembly building, a lavish bungalow of the Chief Minister, costing over Rs.10 crore, has become the new attraction. This is despite the Government being heavily burdened with debts and even failing to clear the power bills of NEEPCO and other power suppliers, owing to which the State is reeling under daily load shedding, causing immense hardships to all sections of society.
The UDP said that the party, through this ‘chargesheet’, reasserts that the ‘Government led by Dr. Mukul Sangma stands Accused, Blacklisted, Charge sheeted and Discredited and has lost the moral and legal right to continue in office’.
According to the UDP, the public ‘chargesheet’, finds the Chief Minister and his Government guilty of grievous crimes against the people of Meghalaya and the State.
“We demand that the Chief Minister should immediately resign and investigation against all the misdemeanours should be taken up by the CBI/ NIA, while at the same time, the Union Government at the centre should step in to impose President’s Rule in Meghalaya which is the fittest case for such a measure.