SHILLONG, Jan 24: Dismayed and disappointed with Union Home Minister Amit Shah for not discussing the issue of the Inner-Line Permit (ILP) with the state cabinet and pressure groups, the Opposition Congress on Sunday said the BJP leadership has no respect for its coalition partners in Meghalaya.
Opposition Chief Whip, PT Sawkmie wondered if the BJP treated the National People’s Party disdainfully.
“They are working together but he (Shah) did not respect MDA. How do we expect him to respect the people and the state when he does not respect a coalition partner? It also shows he is not bothered about the issue we are raising,” Sawkmie said on Sunday.
“People apparently have faith in the MDA because the BJP has relations with NDA at the Centre but Shah just did not bother,” he said.
Sawkmie said everyone in Meghalaya expected Shah to announce the implementation of ILP in view of a resolution passed in the Assembly years ago. “But the Union Home Minister’s visit to Shillong was a big letdown,” he said.
The Congress leader said Shah “should stop running away” from the ILP issue and come clean on the Centre’s position.
He reminded the Centre that the state’s pressure groups refrained from raising black flags or staging protests as they respected Shah’s visit. But they did not get the respect in return, Sawkmie said.
The Congress leader did not buy the argument that Shah could not carve time out of his busy schedule, particularly when the meeting with the cabinet ministers and the pressure groups was on the cards.
“The entire state is disappointed,” he said.