SHILLONG, March 4: Opposition leader, Mukul Sangma on Friday hit out at those in power for “poaching” MLAs by allegedly luring them with developmental packages.
Reacting to Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma’s claims about cracks developing in the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Mukul said he is not perturbed by such statements as the job of those in power is to engage in poaching. “You don’t go on poaching MLAs from the Opposition. This is a desperate attempt to ensure that there is no Opposition in the House and tell if this is healthy in a democracy,” Mukul said.
He said this is a reflection of their desperation to try and weaken the Opposition and continue to remain in power post-2023. The people in power are destroying the values of democracy, he added.
On the five Congress legislators’ decision to support the government, Mukul said there should have been engagements at the party-level for such a coalition but those in power targeted the MLAs with inducements.
He said everyone is a part and parcel of the system and the people in power should not vitiate the environment by weakening the Opposition.
He recalled that former Congress leader, MM Danggo was in 2018 lured with a developmental package in terms of a civil subdivision and convinced to give up his membership in the Assembly.
The AITC leader took a dig at the government for its statement that it does not have adequate manpower in the police force to deal with illegal mining of coal and its transportation.
“Nobody is stopping the government from filling up the vacancies,” he said.
Pointing out how serious the problem of unemployment in the state is, he said many graduates and even post-graduates had applied for a job in the recent recruitment of AB constables.
Earlier, the Congress had criticised the government for its statement about lack of manpower. The Congress said the party-led previous government had neutralised militancy and effectively dealt with illegal mining activities with the same police force and without any external aid.
Home Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui had recently defended the state government by saying that it was trying its best to stop the illegal mining activities but was faced with manpower crunch. He had said the constraint was from the point of view of policing.
Okay with 5 suspended Cong MLAs in MDA: Conrad
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the entry of five suspended Congress MLAs in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government will not be a cause for conflict despite the BJP being a coalition partner.
He told media persons on Friday that the five MLAs were no longer of Congress as the party had suspended them.
“I don’t see any conflict of interest as we all are here to work for the state and we will carry everyone along,” Sangma said.
Lauding the five MLAs, he said their move reflects the positive work carried out by the state government and its efforts to resolve various issues.
The BJP, the main rival of Congress, has not been happy with the inclusion of the five MLAs in the coalition. The saffron party had sought a clarification from the chief minister on the matter.