SHILLONG: Sitting Congress MP ,Vincent Pala filed his nomination papers on Friday before the Returning Officer in Shillong to contest the forthcoming parliamentary election from Shillong constituency.
The two-time MP was accompanied by his mother while filing the nomination.
The Congress has also put up a stand by candidate, Kennedy Khyriem who also filed his nomination along with Pala on Friday.
Responding to queries from reporters regarding the BJP’s accusation against Congress regarding the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) , Pala said it would be wrong to blame former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh of initiating the Bill.
“If they are accusing the Congress then let them provide the facts to substantiate it,” Pala said recalling that there was Cabinet note relating to Assam and it was not meant for Meghalaya.
“The basic intention to behind the Cabinet note was to protect those minority people who had been persecuted in Bangladesh or Pakistan. It is not related to Meghalaya. If they (BJP) feel it is wrong then they should not have taken up the issue all over again. The intention is not a threat but implementing such proposal is a threat,” he said.
The sitting Congress MP also accused the BJP of trying to divide people on the religious line. “They (BJP) have realised that they are not going to win election and hence have resorted to dividing the people into Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others,” he said.
Stating if the Congress comes to power it will do away with the CAB, Pala said that the CAB would be the root cause of influx to the state.
“The CAB will be the root cause of influx which will dilute our customs and culture. It’s difficult for us to accept. If there is no CAB means there is no BJP,” Pala added.
Earlier, MDA common candidate, Jemino Mawthoh had alleged that the Congress too had taken up the issue of Citizenship Amendment Bill when former PM Manmohan Singh had supported CAB in the Rajya Sabha and even now they did not vehemently opposed the CAB in Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha.
“You cannot double speak on issue what BJP is doing, Congress is also doing the same thing,” Mawthoh had said.