Shillong, Jan 12: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma exuded confidence that the people of the State will repose their faith in National People’s Party (NPP) to form a single- party government after the 2023 Assembly polls.
“I know that the people of this state want a strong government and this depends on the people since it was 50 years back when Meghalaya had a full majority government last time. History will repeat itself after 50 years. But the question each one has to ask oneself will we once again get a full majority government ?” Sangma who is also the NPP national president said addressing the general conference of the party attended by party supporters and workers at Polo Ground here today..
Stating that the 2023 Assembly polls are very crucial for the State, he said that 50 years have passed since the statehood was attained and in the last 50 years there are many things that we could have achieved.
“The question is where do we go from now ? And hence we all have to ask ourselves the question: what is it that we will decide. Will we once again give our vote to a political party which has proved itself in the last five years?” the NPP national president said.
He further claimed that it is important to lay the foundation so that in the next 50 years every youth in the state will be getting the opportunity to be able to fulfill their dreams.
According to him, it is important to ensure every woman in the state is able to work towards ensuring that she has a happy family and she’s able to contribute to the economic positivity of the family.
“We should strive to ensure every farmer can get the opportunity to be able to grow the products, process them and get the best price for it. So that every citizen in our state, whether it’s Khasi, Garo, Jaintia and all the other tribes, all the communities, all the religions that are here can all live together in peace and harmony and take our state forward,” the chief minister said.
Sangma said that this foundation would be laid on the basis of the outcome of the forthcoming election.
“The dream to have a new Meghalaya. The dream to see that our state is at the top of the list. We do want people to look at small states or say that this is a tribal state that Meghalaya and the states in the Northeast are not able to govern themselves. We want to make the people of Meghalaya and the people of Northeast proud so that in the coming years, the rest of the country and the rest of the world should look at Meghalaya and say that we would want to be like Meghalaya,” he said.
Talking on the long pending inter-state boundary issue, he said that the NPP-led MDA Government had the courage and wisdom to be able to move forward and take the border issue to its logical conclusion.
“And I can assure you that if there is any political party that will be ever able to find a solution to the border issue it is going to be the NPP. I assure you that given the opportunity in 2023, we will find the solution and we will resolve the border issue so that people in the state, especially the border areas can live in peace,” the NPP national president said.
Meanwhile, Sangma said that Meghalaya used to be at the bottom in the rankings in the country.
He further claimed that in a matter of five years, Meghalaya currently is in the top five states in the country in terms of MGNREGS.
“There was a time when we were not able to get vaccinations. Though the vaccines were available, the system was not working. We were ranked 27, 28 and 29 in the country in terms of children getting immunization. But due to the hard work of this government in the last five years we are today from rank 27 we are now at the rank number 2 in the country,” chief minister said.
The NPP national president further pointed out in the last 20 years, the large number of roads that could not be made.
He further stated that this particular NPP government has made more roads in the last 20 years of the State.
“This NPP-led government has been able to give water to more houses in the last five years than what was delivered in the last 50 years of the Statehood,” Sangma added.