Respect Constitution, Lanong tells BJP

SHILLONG: Senior United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Bindo M Lanong has asked BJP to respect the Constitution of India.
Reacting to a query from media persons here on Saturday, Lanong said the BJP is a new party trying to come to Meghalaya this time with a great force since they are in power at the Centre.
“But where was the party all these years in Meghalaya? It is only because they are in power at the Centre, that they have started coming to Meghalaya,” he said, adding they are sending their leaders and people to Meghalaya only because of the upcoming 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. The BJP has to respect the Constitution of India and people whether they are in Meghalaya or in any other part of the country,” the UDP leader said.
Lanong said in South India, people have different cultures and the same goes with every other part of the country where people from different faiths and ethnic groups exist. “So, BJP has to respect the cultures and traditions of everybody,” he said.
Asked if the BJP was using UDP to make inroads into Meghalaya, Lanong said, “Do you think UDP is a material which anybody can use.” He said the North East Democratic Alliance was a different forum and could not be branded as a BJP group.
On the alliance of UDP with HSPDP and GNC, Lanong said it was going on smoothly and reminded that a similar tie-up had take place in 1984 when UDP and HSPDP had an alliance for 29 seats while both parties contested from two open
seats, Langrin and Mawkyrwat.
“That time, HSPDP won Langrin and we won Mawkyrwat,” he said.
Meanwhile, the senior UDP leader also termed the state government’s performance in the past five years as a “total flop” saying that Shillong despite being a capital city continues to suffer from irregular power supply and even water supply.
According to Lanong even healthcare in the state was poor and people had to buy medicine from outside even if they go for treatment to a government hospital like Civil Hospital here, adding that even the X-Ray machine in the hospital remained non functional most of the time.
“How do they (Congress) expect to come back to power with many tainted MLAs and ministers,” he said.