‘Case will not singe professional BJP’

SHILLONG, July 28: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday reiterated that the arrest of BJP vice president Bernard N Marak on allegations of running a brothel has nothing to do with politics or the BJP.
He also said the BJP is a professional organisation run professionally and cannot take things at the personal level.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with the fact that he is a member of the BJP. He is a surrendered militant and has 25 cases against him. We had a lot of complaints about this particular location and the procedure of law based on evidence followed,” Sangma said while reacting to allegations that Marak’s arrest was politically motivated.
“It is sad everybody keeps bringing up the BJP in this. If he has done that (misuse the farmhouse), it is an individual case that has nothing to with the BJP’s political alignment and there is no question of any effect on the MDA coalition or relationship with the BJP,” he added.
The Chief Minister said both the National People’s Party and the BJP are resilient enough to not be affected by the activities of one or two individuals.
He was non-committal about teaming up with the BJP post-elections “but we are happy the things are in the coalition”.
He said the coalition partners will fight against each other in the upcoming election, as has always been the case. “After the results, we will decide (on tie-ups) in the larger interest of the state,” he said.
Sangma, also the national president of the NPP, said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that started with a bang in Meghalaya has been disintegrating with five of its 12 MLAs planning to switch over to other political parties, including the NPP.
“The TMC is fractured like Congress. I don’t want to name the TMC legislators in talks with other parties,” he said.
But, he added, the NPP never takes any party in the opposition lightly, its status notwithstanding.
Sangma, however, appreciated the TMC for raising the issue of inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. “Everyone else should raise this issue, and it is an opportunity for the TMC to show its concern,” he said.
He slammed TMC leader and predecessor Mukul Sangma for being “hypocritical” about the boundary deal with Assam. “We worked on the documents that he had submitted for resolving the dispute,” he said.
He hoped the TMC leader would stop politicising the boundary pact that is expected to bring peace in the disputed areas.