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Year 2020: Graft charges hog limelight of Meghalaya politics

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SHILLONG, Dec 31: The year gone by in Meghalaya politics was marked by continued allegations of corruption and the slogan of “zero tolerance against corruption or any other illegality”.
The charges of graft pertained to illegal coal mining and transportation and misappropriation of funds in Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government continued to remain defiant, rubbishing all charges.
While the allegations over illegal coal mining and transportation kept on resurfacing from time to time since 2018, the issue took a new turn when the Meghalaya Lokayukta had ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into an alleged racket in the transportation of coal, boulders and areca nuts.
Meghalaya Lokayukta chairperson, PK Mushahary, had issued the order based on a complaint filed by a border resident Abhijit Basumatary against the Superintendent of Police, Khliehriat and others.
The state government had challenged the order in the court with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma dismissing the charges. He maintained that the allegations were devoid of any truth.
However, the MDA coalition partners were not happy over the manner in which the government handled things. The United Democratic Party, an MDA constituent, had even asked the CM to strip James Sangma of the Home portfolio after the charges over illegal coal transportation were levelled.
Later, the CM relented, ostensibly succumbing to pressure from the coalition partners and James was stripped of the portfolio.
The Opposition had tried to cash in on the allegations with former CM, Mukul Sangma, reiterating, time and again, that a cartel was operating to facilitate illegal coal mining and transportation.
After a brief calm, the issue was raked up when the name of the officer on special duty to Power Minister James Sangma had cropped up. But the CM and others in the government refuted the allegation. They maintained that there was no need for a CBI probe. But the Opposition kept putting up the heat on the government by raising questions on the entire coal auction process. On their part, the MDA partners invariably reiterated that they would not support any illegality.
The biggest setback for the government came when BJP, an MDA constituent, levelled charges of corruption, worth crores of rupees, in JHADC and GHADC. It had demanded a CBI probe but the government turned it down.
As BJP kept speaking up on the issues of graft, National People’s Party, which heads MDA, dared the saffron party to pull out of the alliance if it was not happy working with the coalition. The BJP kept mum for a while until renewing its attack on the government. Eventually, the government gave in. It recommended a thorough audit of the expenses made by GHADC and JHADC during the last five years.
While the BJP’s state leadership went blitzkrieg on the corruption issue in trying to prove the party stands against illegality, its two MLAs, Cabinet Minister AL Hek and Sanbor Shullai, however, all along maintained that the issue of corruption first needs to be discussed within the party and if needed, could be taken up with the MDA.
The situation had come to such a pass that BJP’s Meghalaya in-charge, M Chuba Ao, had to rush to the state to iron out differences among leaders. However, the visit seemed to have not affected anybody as evident from the continued division between party leaders and legislators.
The BJP leaders had also targeted the government over issues of central bonded warehouse, high electricity bills in Garo Hills etc.
Opposition Congress was not silent either. It went after the government by accusing it of mismanaging the Power Department and MeECL even as it suspected large-scale manipulation in the Saubhagya scheme and Ganol Hydropower Project.

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