SHILLONG: Senior leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Bindo M Lanong has asked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to respect the Constitution of India.
Reacting to a query from the media persons here on Saturday, Lanong said that BJP was a new party trying to come to Meghalaya this time with a great force as they were in the seat of power at the Centre.
“Though BJP existed here but where was BJP all these years in Meghalaya. It is only because they are in power at the Centre, they have tried to come to Meghalaya as a force,” he said adding they (BJP) are sending their leaders and people to Meghalaya only because of the upcoming 2018 Assembly elections.
“But as I have said before, if you don’t respect the Constitution of India, don’t try to come and fool the people here,” he said even as he added that the BJP has to respect the Constitution of India and people as they are.
Lanong said “In South India, people have different culture and same goes with the Northern India and every other part of the country where people from different faiths and ethnic group exists.”
On being asked if BJP is using UDP to make inroads in Meghalaya, Lanong said, “Do you think UDP is a used material which anybody can use?” and added that North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) is a different forum and it cannot be branded as BJP group.
When asked about the alliance of UDP with HSPDP and GNC, Lanong said that alliance was going on smoothly and similar kind of alliance had taken place in the year 1984 when UDP and HSPDP had an alliance for 29 seats while two seats- Longfin and Mawkyrwat – were kept as open seats where both parties had contested. “That time, HSPDP won Langrin and we won from Mawkyrwat,” he said.
The senior UDP leader also slammed that State Government performance in the last five years as “total flop” saying Shillong despite being a capital city continues to suffer from irregular power supply and even water supply.
According to Lanong, even the healthcare in the state is very poor and people have to buy medicines from outside even if they go for treatment in a government Hospital like Civil Hospital in Shillong, adding that even the X Ray machine in the hospital remain non-functional most of the time.
“How do they (Congress) expect to come back power with many stained MLAs and ministers,” he said.
