SHILLONG: Congress nominee for the Shillong Lok Sabha seat Vincent Pala on Friday castigated the BJP for pushing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill while exuding confidence his party would return to power at the Centre.
Pala, who is the sitting Shillong MP, a seat he has won twice consecutively, filed his nomination on Friday.
Speaking to media persons after filing his nomination papers, Pala also identified connectivity, employment and education as his priority areas.
He said the CAB if enacted, will have an adverse effect on the indigenous population of the North East diluting local custom and culture by opening the gates to influx of aliens.
He said the Congress was against the bill. “It is difficult for us to accept… if we want to exist, we would have to see that there is no CAB,” he said
Pala asserted that his party will return to power. “There is no doubt that the Congress will return to power as the BJP has lost control in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and even in southern states. Its (BJP) allies are also running away from the party,” he said in a statement.
The engineer-turned-politician also accused the BJP of dividing the people of the country on religious lines. “They (BJP) have realised that they are not going to win and that’s why have resorted to dividing the people,” he added. He is optimistic the Congress will get at least 160 seats this time.
He said that the mandate for the Congress in the recently-concluded MDC elections will not have any bearing on the Lok Sabha elections as the two are fought on vastly different issues. While the MDC elections revolve around issues like customary laws and land, Lok Sabha elections focus on national and policy matters.
Asked about the vote share of the Congress going down, he said it did not matter as he had won last time getting 34 per cent of the votes.
Denying allegations of MDA that he has done nothing as an MP, he said that three most important issues for him will be connectivity, employment and education.
Stating that many people in the constituency are still living below poverty line, without housing and proper roads, he said the Congress would take up the matter.
When asked if the entry of BJP into the picture will influence non-tribal voters , he said that they gel very well with tribals in the state and there is no division between them.
The total number of candidates, who have filed their nominations for the Shillong seat, has reached four. They include Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement’s THS Bonney, United Democratic Party’s Jemino Mawthoh and Kennedy Khyriem, who has filed his nomination papers as a standby for the Congress candidate, besides Pala himself.
