SHILLONG, July 16: The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition meeting on Friday has calmed the political storm, at least for the nonce, with a majority of the coalition partners resolving to rather wait and abstain from placing forth impetuous demands until the report of the independent inquiry into the allegations of corruption and other irregularities in the MeECL is out.
Few of the topmost issues discussed during Friday’s meeting include interstate boundary dispute, Assam-Meghalaya joint cadre, amendments of sixth and eight schedules, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Meghalaya visit and alleged irregularities in the MeECL.
“It was a fruitful meeting and everyone seems to agree to wait for an inquiry into the power issue, which is encouraging,” said an upbeat NPP state president, WR Kharlukhi, after the meeting.
BJP state president, Ernest Mawrie, who was until recently adamant to not settle for anything less than a CBI probe into the alleged scam in the implementation of Saubhagya scheme, said, “We are satisfied with the discussions we had and we have decided to wait for the report of the independent inquiry on MeECL.”
KHNAM MLA, Adelbert Nongrum, who has been advocating for the ouster of James Sangma in order to facilitate “proper” inquiry, after the meeting said, “I raised this issue because of my principles; I have nothing against James.”
Independent MLA, Lambor Malngiang, too, has also decided to keep his fingers crossed. “We have discussed corruption issue. Now let us just wait for the outcome of the report.
We have already discussed with the chief minister that whoever is found guilty should be punished.”
On the interstate boundary issue, he said the chief minister will meet his counterpart from Assam on Saturday to confer about the issues plaguing both states.
Independent MLA, SK Sunn, said the meeting went well and there were lot of deliberations.
PDF chief, Banteidor Lyngdoh, said, “We have discussed all the issues. Now it all depends on the wisdom of the chief minister as we have spoken our thoughts”.
HSPDP chief, KP Pangniang, who was pressing for a consultative meeting on the Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute, also seemed contented with the outcome of the meeting. He said, “We had collective discussion among all the parties. Now, since the government has already ordered an inquiry, everything will be looked into.”
UDP leader and Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, on the other hand, said that he mostly discussed about the issues that are to be taken up with the Union Home Minister.
“In the meeting we raised the same issue the UDP has flagged every now and then. We discussed about Union Home Minister’s visit and to impress upon him to give an ear to the voices of the people and implement ILP,” he said.
UDP president, Metbah Lyngdoh, however, did not attend the meeting.
NCP chief, Saleng Sangma, said that another issued that was raked up during the meeting was how online classes have been taking a toll on the lives of students.
“Right now, schools are shut but online classes are going on. If the network is poor, how do you respond to the classes? Furthermore, many people in villages do not have smartphones,” he argued.
Saleng also said that a petition for distribution of cost-effective smartphones to the needy was placed forth during the meeting.
When asked if all coalition partners are on the same page to wait for the inquiry report, the NCP chief said, “Yes, somewhat, since a committee has been appointed.”
“We also covered most of the issues ranging from interstate boundary dispute, inclusion of Khasi and Garo language in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, random cutting of trees in West Khasi Hills, among others,” he added.
