RESUBELPARA, Jan 10: In an attempt to drum up support for party candidates in the upcoming assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a mass membership drive in Mendipathar on Tuesday.
The initiative held at Manikganj village in North Garo Hills saw over 100 people join the party. The Deputy Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly, Dr Numal Momin, attended the event as chief guest.
Earlier, Momin, along with other BJP leaders, visited the house of three-time minister FW Momin in an effort to convince him to join the BJP.
Meanwhile, Momin’s son-in-law Sengnab Ch Momin could become the fourth ticket aspirant from the same constituency from the same party. At present, FW Momin is with the NPP.
There are three aspirants, Alberth Marak, Digross D Shira and Pulin Rabha for the BJP ticket. While Kharkutta has five ticket aspirants, Resubelpara has two and four contenders are queuing up saffron party ticket in Bajengdoba.
Speaking at the gathering, Dr Momin slammed successive governments of Meghalaya for ignoring the Garo Hills region.
“It is clear that the government is focussing on Shillong, which is the hub of the IIM, NEIGRHIMS and NIT while there are no such institutes in Garo Hills. It’s a pity that almost all chief ministers who belonged to Garo Hills region never worked for the development of the people of their area,” said Dr Momin.
He questioned, “Why are there no medical, engineering colleges in Garo Hills?”
Momin also said this mindset can be changed if politicians pay heed to the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is laying focused on developing Meghalaya and Northeast at large.
“If voted to power, we will construct a medical college, a university and engineering colleges,” he told the gathering.
Interacting with media persons at the end of the meeting, Numal said the BJP would come to power with absolute majority in Meghalaya because voters are aware of what is happening in the state and the BJP is the only alternative.
“People of Meghalaya talk about Assam model of development as they have realised that my state has developed under the BJP rule. After our party came to power in Assam, 15 colleges have been set up, an AIIMS is being set up and you can see how infrastructure has blossomed. The NCP, NPP, Congress and now the TMC, despite being in power, have not even been able to even set up a new 200-bed hospital,” the Deputy Speaker said.
He added that the BJP, which is going alone, has the confidence to get absolute majority.
Lambasting the NPP for trying to befool the people of the state, Numal said, “Central schemes are being misused by the NPP, which is trying to hoodwink people by changing the names of central projects. PMAY has been named FOCUS while PMAY has been changed to low cost houses project.”
He said Assam has got more than 15 lakh PMAY houses and completed construction of nine lakh houses.
“There are only 3-4 beneficiaries in each village. Where is all this money going? They are only interested in corruption. If the BJP comes to power, we will initiate inquiry into these anomalies. They are ditching the same people who elected them. This time there is Modi wave and we will come to power. Once we form government, we’ll ensure all round development of the state with assistance from Centre,” he said.
Alleging that Rs 1,000 from the PMAY has gone missing, the Deputy Speaker said the NPP government is only paying Rs 5,000 to each beneficiary under FOCUS at a time while the state receives two instalments of Rs 3,000 each year under the scheme.
