TURA, Dec 9: Days after Meghalaya BJP president Ernest Mawrie accused the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) of cashing in on the FOCUS programme to further political interest, the Assam BJP has now alleged that the scheme is being used as an election ploy by the ruling coalition in Meghalaya.
Assam BJP legislator Dr Numal Momin, while casting aspersions on the NPP’s reported claims that FOCUS has been initiated by the state government for the people of Meghalaya, has asked the Meghalaya government to not mislead the people on the provider of the FOCUS funds.
“Where is the revenue being generated by the state government that they will be able to provide money to farmers from the state? This is a centrally sponsored scheme meant to benefit producer groups but is being used as an election ploy to change the narrative altogether,” said Dr Momin when contacted.
“As far as we know, the situation is so bad that the state government is not even able to pay salaries to their own employees. There is no question of additional revenue being generated. So the NPP should refrain from making false claims on a clearly centrally funded scheme. When Conrad visits Delhi to meet central ministers, he always puts on a show of bonhomie — that changes when he comes back to the state of Meghalaya,” he added.
The Bokajan legislator, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly, exuded confidence that the BJP is in a prime position in Meghalaya and that the next chief minister would be from the party itself.
“We will lead the next government in Meghalaya and that will be for the betterment of the state. We will win more than 30 seats in 2023,” said Dr Momin, informing that the party will put up candidates in all the constituencies of Meghalaya.
“The call on the number of candidates contesting (the Assembly elections) will be taken up by the central party leadership in consultation with the state leaders. A decision will be taken if there needs to be any sort of seat-sharing with others but for now, we are going at it alone,” he added.
Dr Momin also made reference to Conrad’s previous statement of not being a part of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), as well as the party going all alone in Garo Hills.
“Look at what they (NPP) did in Manipur. They intentionally put up candidates against the BJP, leading to many of our legislators losing. The party is gearing up to ensure we win as much as we can and form the next government on our own,” he said.
“No party has really gone into intensive campaigns in the state for now but we are holding camps in various constituencies. There have been many induction programmes of the party and this is a positive sign that things will change this time around,” Dr. Marak felt.
Earlier this week, the chief minister had Distributed funds amounting to a whopping Rs 30 crore under FOCUS+ programme at Jengjal, West Garo Hills, , while stating that his government wishes to make similar contributions in their next term if voted to power.
It may be mentioned that Mawrie had last week alleged that the FOCUS programme’s prime agenda is to further the political interest of “some” political party.
“I will request the people not to fall prey to such a programme. The money which they are receiving is only the loan which the government has taken from the central agencies,” Mawrie had said during a programme in West Jaintia Hills.
