SHILLONG, Feb 24: Amid the ongoing clamour for a Khasi chief minister to lead Meghalaya, the VPP on Friday launched a scathing attack on the UDP over the demand, recalling how the latter’s stance on the demand has changed over the years.
Addressing an election meeting at Malki taxi stand, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit lambasted the UDP for demanding a Khasi chief minister.
“One should not forget that it was the same party (UDP) who made Conrad K. Sangma the chief minister in 2018 when he was not even an MLA,” Basaiawmoit argued.
He also recalled that the UDP had agreed to become a part of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) after the 2018 Assembly elections on the condition that Conrad be elected as the chief minister.
“Now the same party is saying that we need a Khasi CM. Help us win all the 18 seats then you will surely get a Khasi CM,” the VPP president said.
He also tore into the 10 Khasi cabinet ministers for not speaking against the implementation of the roster system in the job reservation policy.
“The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to implement the roster system. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma did not say anything since he knows that they are benefitting from it. The Khasi cabinet ministers should have served an ultimatum to the CM that they are against the implementation of the roster system since it is against our interest,” Basaiawmoit said.
Maintaining that there is no provision for the roster system as per the reservation policy, the VPP president said, “My question is what the ten Khasi Cabinet Ministers from UDP, PDF, HSPDP and BJP are doing. The implementation of the roster is with retrospective and this will have a major impact on our youth who are applying for jobs.”
Basaiawmoit said that it is not right for these ten cabinet ministers to pin the blame on others just for the sake of winning the elections.
“I would appeal to the electorates to not fall trap to such political propaganda. It is important for the people to understand things and to make an informed choice,” he said.
Contending that the job reservation policy is only an office memorandum, he said, “None of the parties have mentioned that they are going to review the job reservation policy. But we assure that we will review the job reservation policy if we are given an opportunity to lead the government.”
It may be mentioned that the election meeting was organised to drum up support for the party candidate from East Shillong, Avner Pariat.