SHILLONG, June 30: The National People’s Youth Front on Thursday went hammer and tongs against All India Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for calling Chief Minister and NPP national president Conrad K Sangma as a ‘conman’ and added that the AITC’s virus tag on the NPP was an insult not only to the NPP but to the entire state.
NPYF spokesperson and party MDC Bajop Pyngrope accused the AITC leader of making a childish statement and said it was unacceptable to the NPP and to the state.
The NPYF demanded an apology from Banerjee. It also sought an apology from The Shillong Times for publishing the news and threatened to file a defamation suit over noncompliance.
“The NPYF strongly objects to such remarks made against the CM. If you level such allegations against the CM you need to come up with facts and evidence,” Pyngrope said.
“Banerjee needs to understand that Conrad Sangma was elected to the post of CM by the elected MLAs from various constituencies,” he added.
The NPYF spokesperson also expressed strong resentment against the AITC for terming the NPP as a virus.
“I have not heard any scientific term of NPP as a virus. At the same time, I have not heard any vaccine named Trinamool,” Pyngrope said.
Asserting that he (Banerjee) cannot come to Meghalaya and project himself as a clean politician, Pyngrope reminded the AITC leader that he was under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged involvement in a Rs 1900-crore coal scam. “We have learnt that even his wife also involved. The West Bengal government is protecting them at the moment. In the years to come he will be behind bars since there are genuine evidence which proves his involvement in the scam,” Pyngrope said.
NPP national vice president and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong advised the AITC leader to get trained on language. He asserted that the NPP will provide training to him for which he has to visit the state again.
“It is unfortunate that such a statement has been made by general secretary of the AITC against the head of the state,” Tynsong said while reacting to the blistering attack by Banerjee against the CM.
Accusing Banerjee of being immature, Tynsong said, “Being one of the tallest leaders of the AITC in India you come here and pretend as if you know everything.”
“Let me reiterate that his statement is childish and also unbecoming of his stature,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the NPP’s media and communication cell issued a statement saying, “Such remarks are against our own indigenous culture. What pains the rank and file of the NPP is the culture which Trinamool Congress wishes to bring to Meghalaya. The culture of abuse, hostility, mud-slinging and misinformation,” the statement said.
Stating that Meghalaya’s election process has largely been free from violence, the statement said, “Our state is not one where electioneering is full of violence and aggression – something not alien to the campaigning style of TMC as already demonstrated in many previous instances.”
“We as a political party are not against criticism, however, targeting the head of a state with such spiteful and abusive remarks is not acceptable,” the statement said.
Noting that the NPP was not against any political party participating in the electioneering process, the NPP observed that the new political entrant should restrain from making such unwarranted and unprincipled remark.
