TURA, Feb 7: Tura MDC and BJP candidate Bernard N Marak is confident of beating Chief Minister Conrad Sangma in his own stronghold of South Tura, even he has admitted that Conrad would be his strongest contender, who nevertheless could be overcome.
“Word on the street is that it will be the Chief Minister but I don’t think it will be that tough of a contest and I will emerge victorious. I am confident of that,” he said.
The Tura MDC was speaking after filing his nominations for the South Tura seat at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here.
Commenting on the NPP’s claim of bringing development especially in South Tura, Bernard said the inauguration of projects like Smart Town, the PA Sangma Stadium and the Ganol Hydro Project were all sanctioned by the Centre.
“Narendra Modi should be the one getting the credit and not the chief minister. However, the chief minister is taking credit for these projects. This is not right and the public are not ignorant of that. There are no projects initiated by the chief minister,” Bernard asserted.
On the recent incidents of Christians being targeted in Assam, the Tura MDC said that there was no cause for such concern.
“Most of the BJP candidates in the state are Christians. We will ensure that no such thing happens here and if it happens in other states, we, the BJP MLAs from this Christian state, will jointly raise our voices against it,” he said.
Replying to a query on whether his recent arrest by the Tura police would affect his poll prospects, Bernard said that it would not do so in the least.
“The public knows that I was framed and false cases were filed against me. It was a political propaganda as he (chief minister) was concerned about his political career. The court has absolved me of all the allegations and granted me bail,” he said.
