SHILLONG, July 4: The Congress said the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) constituents must change the coalition’s leadership if they want to protect the interests of the state and its people.
Congress leader Mukul Sangma wondered how MDA components United Democratic Party (UDP), Hills State Peoples’ Democratic Party (HSPDP) and BJP are so comfortable with the political quid pro quo.
“Time has come for the political parties in the government to revisit. If they want to protect the interests of the people, they must change the leadership,” Sangma said.
He said there are many good people in the National People’s Party (NPP) that heads the MDA. The NPP leadership may be corrupt but not all its members, followers and voters, he said.
“Many must have voted as they wanted better days to come. Everybody always expects a change for the better. But this political scenario needs to be corrected if we want to protect the interests of the people and the state,” Sangma said.
Asserting that the Congress worked hard to build the state but today the situation is very different, he said the environment, the narrative and the perception about the state and opportunities have completely changed in four years.
“You cannot compare the Meghalaya of today with the Meghalaya that existed four years ago,” Sangma asserted.
Claiming that the data and the records of every department are in black and white, he said, “I will take stock of all these and put them on trial in “Janata ka Adalat”.
Taking a dig at the MDA, he said it is not just one sector where irregularities persist and cited the example of One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme.
“The result of OTS will be that it will end up enriching some people and depriving the exchequer of revenue,” Sangma asked.
He said the alleged irregularities and corruption are a reflection of the greed of people, who are forcing the situation to ducktail in a manner that suits their desire and intent of enriching themselves.
The Congress has been for long vocal over issues including illegal mining of coal and its transportation, alleged illegalities in the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited, Saubhagya scheme besides OTS. The party had demanded independent inquiries into some of them.