SHILLONG: AICC General Secretary CP Joshi has expressed hope that the Congress will once again form the government in Meghalaya with a two-thirds majority and maintained that there was no space for the BJP’s ideology in the state.
Joshi, who was in Shillong for three days to oversee the party’s preparations ahead of the Assembly polls, sought to clear the air over delay in announcement of the final list of candidates.
The Congress party has a system, he said, wherein the Pradesh Election Committee recommends the names of the candidates which are then considered by the Screening Committee. Finally, the names of the candidates are taken up for consideration by the Central Election Committee, he said.
“We are hopeful that the names of the candidates will be announced before the nomination date,” he said and sought to downplay the recent desertions of many sitting Congress MLAs saying that politicians often change parties before an approaching election. “This is not a new phenomenon,” he remarked.
Asked about the BJP’s claims of forming a new government in the state, Joshi replied with a touch of sarcasm: “BJP can see ‘Mungerilal ke sapne’”, adding that there is no space for the saffron party’s ideology in Meghalaya.
“BJP is poaching candidates from other parties and trying to form the government,” he said, adding that the Congress does not consider BJP, NPP and other political parties as a potential threat.
The NPP is working hand in glove with BJP and the regional parties here are part of the North-East Democratic Alliance that are directly or indirectly supporting the BJP.
Denying allegations that the Congress was finding it difficult to get candidates, Joshi said the party has received a large number of applications and many of them are winning candidates.
The Congress leader slammed the Centre over its sudden decision to allot Rs 70 crore projects to churches in Meghalaya.
“Without any recommendation from the state, the Centre took suo moto cognizance of the matter and gifted a package to Meghalaya. They know how important Meghalaya is from the perspective of tourism. But why did the BJP-led government at the Centre took more than four years to realise this,” he asked.
