There is no end to the antics of members of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA). Levelling allegations against their major partner the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) is a favourite pastime. First it was the BJP and its string of allegations of corruption against the NPP. This was followed by the United Democratic Party (UDP) which has in recent times blamed the Government of which they are a part of, for some of the farmer related schemes such as FOCUS and FOCUS+ etc. The latest to throw muck at the NPP is the MLA of Mawkynrew, Banteidor Lyngdoh. He has accused the NPP of dangling a Rs 5 crore bait before him to join the Party. Naturally the Party President, Conrad Sangma who also heads the coalition has flatly denied the allegations as he should. Why would he admit that his Party is wooing sitting legislators from other parties to strengthen the hands of the NPP? In politics denial is the name of the game.
While adherence to certain core principles are expected from the members of a coalition who are supposed to carry equal praise or blame for the way in which the State has been run for the past five years, are expected, such is not the case with the present set of legislators. The UDP did the same class act even when it was a partner with the Mukul Sangma led Congress government. It blamed the former CM for not consulting it in everything that the Government did. If that was the case the simple thing for the UDP to have done then was to get out of the government and not remain a part of the circus while tattling about it. This is being repeated even with the present coalition. It shows a breach of trust when a partner is accused of something that is a result of a joint decision.
The UDP has itself to blame for allowing the NPP to run away with the trophy. When it had the opportunity at the beginning of its love affair with the NPP, to draft out a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) based on its promise to the people in its manifesto, it was slack. The UDP blamed senior UDP member BM Laning for not coming out with the CMP which he was entrusted to work on. The CMP would have allowed the UDP to claim some of the schemes as its own brainwave. As of now FOCUS, PRIME and schemes with a string of acronyms are seemingly the initiatives of the NPP while the UDP was caught napping. The less spoken about the BJP the better. The Party has not pulled out of the Government hence its bluff is called out again and again. As they say there is honour even among thieves. In the MDA even that is missing. Clearly the MDA is a marriage of inconvenience.