SHILLONG, Dec 22: The State BJP on Tuesday passed a resolution on “zero tolerance on corruption”, saying “many people in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas were victims of bad governance in the State.”
The saffron party, which is supporting the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance Government while raising issues relating to corruption in governance, adopted the resolution at a meeting presided over by state BJP president, Ernest Mawrie.
“In Meghalaya, BJP was thought to be a communal party, but now BJP is seen as the guardian of the common people.
However, the issue of corruption seems to have created a vertical rift in the BJP, with the state party leaders and the central leadership echoing diametrically opposite views on the graft issue.
The Meghalaya BJP in-charge, M. Chuba Ao, is of the opinion that the issue of corruption in Meghalaya should be discussed internally, while the state BJP president is keen on raising the issue openly through the media.
“The statement of M. Chuba Ao that we should discuss the graft issue internally and not go to the media is his personal opinion, whereas it has clearly emerged in today’s meeting that we should go to the media and highlight the corruption issue so that people will know what is going on,” Mawrie told The Shillong Times after a state office bearers’ meeting here today.
Mawrie cited the case of Assam where during the recent Bodoland Territorial Council election the BJP had flagged the corruption issue in spite of the fact that the BJP-led Assam Government has three ministers from the Bodo People’s Front (BPF).
“We cannot be expected to remain silent only because we are coalition partners,” Mawrie added.
The state BJP, which had raised corruption in the GHADC and the JHADC with much gusto and had even demanded a CBI investigation, went silent on the charges after MDA constituents – NPP and the UDP asked the party to quit the ruling coalition if they were unsatisfied.
Under fire from all quarters, the BJP Meghalaya in-charge (M. Chuba Ao) paid a visit to the state following which the party went into temporary hibernation.
This attracted widespread condemnation that the state BJP had succumbed to the pressure of their central leaders.
However, the party denied the charges while arguing that their demand for a CBI probe was still on.
BJP national president’s visit
Mawrie informed that BJP national president, JP Nadda, will visit the state for two days in March next year and hold discussions with intellectuals, religious leaders and pressure groups.