SHILLONG, Jan 21: The Opposition Congress is miffed with the MDA Government for not inviting representations of all political parties to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah over ILP implementation in Meghalaya.
Senior Congress leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh, on Thursday said that the state government has, so far, failed to invite the political parties to meet Shah and express their views on the need to implement ILP in Meghalaya.
“When other dignitaries used to come to Meghalaya, the trend was that the Government would ask representations of all political parties for an audience with the visitor. However, there seems to be distancing this time,” Lyngdoh said.
A discontented Lyngdoh said that the MDA Government should have invited other political parties for a rendezvous with the Union Home Minister since it was “all political parties” who had supported the resolution for implementation of ILP in the state.
“ILP is a pressing issue at the moment and our opinion should be placed under the purview of the Union Home Minister. But I don’t think the state government has invited any representation of the all political parties considering the fact that the resolution was supported by all political parties,” Lyngdoh added.
Echoing similar views, another senior Congress leader, Charles Pyngrope, too, said that said the State Cabinet should have called for an all-party delegation to meet the Union Minister instead of meeting him separately, as all 60 legislators from the state had supported the resolution.
“The demand for ILP is of the entire state and not the MDA alone,” Pyngrope said.
He bemoaned over other political parties being left out for talks with Shah, especially despite the fact state government earlier asking everyone to visit New Delhi to meet the Union ministers for ILP implementation.
“We all could have met the Home Minister and express our views in one voice,” Pyngrope said.
It may be mentioned that Shah will visit Shillong on Saturday to attend the plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC), after which the Cabinet ministers will meet him and also press for ILP implementation.
In addition, two pressure groups, viz. KSU and COMSO are also keen to meet the Union Home Minister. However, their appointment has not been confirmed as of now.