TURA: The Congress-led alliance government in Meghalaya is an enemy of the state and its people and that is evident from the broken roads and wobbly wooden bridges in Garo Hills districts, said Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons on Wednesday.
On his maiden visit to the region, Alphons, who is also BJP’s Meghalaya in-charge, questioned Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s “development mantra” saying it differed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to provide opportunities to all in Meghalaya.
He targeted the state government on poor connectivity and wondered why it took five hours to cover a distance of 50km in some places beyond Tura. He also blamed it for not upgrading around 50 wooden bridges.
“This government is an enemy of the people. Had it done its job would Garo Hills still have wooden bridges and bad roads and would the youth still need to migrate to other states in search of jobs? This is a disastrous government,” Alphons said at a press meet in Tura on Wednesday.
During his visit to Shillong earlier this month, Alphons had blamed the state government for stealing public money. On Wednesday, he questioned its inability to utilise central fund and facilitating a trickle-down.
“The Mukul Sangma government has not even implemented the 5th Pay Commission and this shows that it is unable to pay salaries to its own employees,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of tourism, he said that there are incredible opportunities and Meghalaya can be in the forefront provided there is an efficient government.
“We intend to dramatically change the situation and make this state a huge tourist hub. Good education, excellent skill training programmes and employment is what BJP wants for the youth of Meghalaya, including Garo Hills,” said the BJP minister.
On the beef ban controversy which erupted in many parts of the country a few months ago, Alphons clarified that the Centre had already made it clear that the people of the state will decide on what they want to eat and no one from Delhi can decide on that.
Positive campaign
Alphons, along with BJP’s national spokesperson Nalin Kohli, said next year’s elections will see two modes of campaigning by political parties.
“The difference between the two campaigns is that ours will be a positive one for change with ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, a development agenda that will ensure Meghalaya gets its due. On the other hand, there will be a campaign on negativity because the Congress does not want to speak on their performance. After 10 years, the fear is ‘please don’t talk of our performance’. Instead create fear against those who talk on development,” the senior leaders said.
Kohli once again dared the Congress to engage in a debate on development and their track record.
