Not relevant: Conrad on Gokhale’s debate dare

SHILLONG, Sep 29: Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale’s dare to the NPP-led MDA coalition to engage with him in a verbal duel seems to have found no takers in the ruling dispensation. They are, instead, calling the challenge as irrelevant, unreasonable and waste of time, with Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong even calling the former a “magician” and not a politician for claiming to know everything about Meghalaya in two months’ time.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma also termed the debate challenge as unreasonable. “You tell me if it is relevant in any way? Is it possible for government to have a debate with anybody who comes up on social media and says I want to have debate with you? It is very unreasonable and I don’t think the press should push this thing,” Sangma said, adding: “I think we are wasting the time of the press and wasting space in the media…so we suggest not talking about this anymore.”
Tynsong had a different take on the dare. “I would like to ask him who he is. Every state unit be it BJP, NPP or TMC they have their own state spokesperson but I don’t know him.”
Asked whether the state government was scared of the challenge, Tynsong said, “We are not scared but why should we spend time with him. Who is he? Are you trying to say that he knows better than anyone of you who are stay and work here?”
“I think the best person who will know exactly what is going on is the people of Meghalaya,” Tynsong said, advising the TMC spokesperson to spend more time talking in favour of his government in West Bengal.