‘No future for BJP in M’laya’

SHILLONG: Urban Affairs Minister Ronnie Lyngdoh on Thursday unleashed a tirade against BJP and its senior leaders and predicted a bleak future of the saffron brigade in Meghalaya.
“Let us not only talk about the future of BJP in the State but it is about the future of BJP in the whole of India,” the senior Congress leader told reporters when asked about the national party’s future in Meghalaya.
Demonetisation, which created chaos in the country and unsettled the stock exchange, became Lyngdoh’s weapon to strike at BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He pointed out that farmers, unorganised sector workers and people engaged in dairy farming were the worst-hit.
“How many people have benefitted from demonetisation? He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has befooled the people,” he said.
Listing some of the ill effects of the Centre’s ‘surgical strike on black money’, the minister said farmers in Mylliem constituency are facing problems in buying seeds and agricultural inputs and dairy farmers are finding it difficult to procure fodder.
The adverse effects of demonetisation are still prevalent and “Modi and BJP will be exposed one day”, he added.
‘Sarma cannot rule his own state’
The Congress leader, however, saved the worst criticisms for Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. When asked to comment on Sarma’s denouncement of the Congress Government in Meghalaya, he said, “Who is Himanta Biswa Sarma? He cannot rule his own state and he is deciding our fate.”
Stating that the common man has made enough sacrifices to free the State from Assam’s domination, he questioned as to why the State should be under Assam’s domination again.
“Sorry Himanta Biswa Sarma, we will decide our own destiny and fate. We will look after own State. And he will look after his own,” he added.
The minister asserted that there are enough efficient people to manage the State. He claimed that Meghalaya is one of the best managed states in terms of finances and infrastructure.
Sarma had recently blamed Chief Minister Mukul Sangma for making Meghalaya the worst performing State in the North East.
“Who is he to judge? It is the people who will judge in the 2018 elections and it is not the verdict of Sarma,” Lyngdoh said.