SHILLONG: The next Assembly elections in Meghalaya are three years away but political activities in the State seems to have already got going with the AICC asking the State government to prepare a progress report of the two years of MUA-II Government and the State BJP deciding to form sub committees to scrutinize the activities of the Congress-led MUA-II Government and to follow up the pending corruption cases under the MUA government.
A BJP State leader on Sunday said party president Amit Shah, during his visit to the State, had asked the State BJP to act as a watch dog and to scrutinize all programmes and policies of the State government and expose corruption cases.
According to the state BJP, the sub committees of the party will play the role of vigilantes aimed at exposing the loopholes of the Congress-led government.
The State BJP is also planning to hold its State Executive Committee meeting shortly to discuss ways and means of strengthening the party at all levels starting from the grass roots ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls.
The visit of the BJP national president seems to have added vigour to the saffron party which does not have any representation in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly ansd is eager to become a force to reckon with in the Hill State.
The BJP’s good show during the Lok Sabha polls in urban constituencies of the State and in some seats in Jaintia Hills in 2014, has acted as a morale booster for the BJP. The State unit of the party was formed in 1991 and since then the BJP has had a mixed run the Meghalaya.
In the 1998 Assembly elections, T.H. Rangad from Laban, A.L. Hek from Pynthorumkhrah and N.N. Simchang from Dalu in West Garo Hills had contested and won on BJP tickets.
In the 2003 Assembly polls, both Rangad and Hek retained their respective seats but Simchang was defeated.
Following the death of Rangad on July 4, 2003, his wife Jopsimon Phanbuh contested and retained the Laban seat for the BJP in the September 2013 by-poll.
In 2008, the BJP secured only one seat when Hek retained the Pynthorumkhrah seat yet again, but he switched allegiance and joined the Congress in 2009, resulting in the BJP drawing a blank in the Assembly thereafter.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, Hek contested on a Congress ticket and won his seat again. The BJP, which had fielded 13 candidates, failed to win even a single seat.
Significantly buoyed by the party’s stupendous victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections in several states, the BJP leadership in Meghalaya now wants to rejuvenate the party to ensure that the party will have a say in the government formation in 2018.
The State BJP has also claimed that the party’s membership will touch 70,000 in the State the coming days with vigorous campaigns being undertaken to enroll members in the State.
