NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG, March 5: The Congress has come down heavily on the NPP-led alliance in Meghalaya saying it is not only “unholy” but also a “marriage of convenience”.
After fighting bitterly against each other during the campaign period, now the regional parties, BJP and NPP have formed a half-stitched alliance to come back to power, MPCC president Vincent H Pala said. The biggest regional party (UDP) was even part of serious agitation against the proposed government started by the civil societies and smaller parties, the Shillong MP said. “But within less than 24 hours they showed their real colour and jumped into the bandwagon,” he added.
Pala also criticised the BJP for extending support to the NPP government which it had criticised vehemently. “The Union Home Minister Amit Shah had even dubbed Meghalaya as the most corrupt state in the country,” he recalled, adding, “Now his party is joining the same regime.”
Congress will continue to play the role of the opposition, Pala said, while clarifying that he will be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as a sitting MP.
Reacting to the decision of UDP and PDF to offer support to the NPP, the VPP president, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, on Sunday said, “This is just a political drama which takes place during the formation of any government.”
“I am not surprised since they were together even in the previous NPP-led MDA government. But I can only say this is just an attempt to mislead the people. The people who have elected these parties have been cheated and this happened even before the ink on their fingers had erased,” Basaiawmoit said.
According to him, the question is whether the decision of the regional parties to support the NPP gives the desired result or outcome.
“We had an opportunity to lead the government. We had set our conditions. We were ready to give outside support even if they had not accepted our conditions for the sake of ending the misrule of the NPP,” the VPP president said, while making it clear that his party cannot do anything else apart from sitting in the opposition.
“We will honestly try to deliver our responsibility as opposition and will raise our voices on the wrongdoings of the government despite having very less numbers,” he said. Meanwhile, the VPP president said that the party had decided to be part of the move to install a government led by the regional forces after seeing the aspiration among the people.
“We responded to the call of the UDP since they had the mandate to lead the government with 11 MLAs. I had some suspicion on the day of the meeting after the two HSPDP MLAs went missing. But I never expected that this will happen so soon,” Basaiawmoit said.
“Let people be the judge. We want people’s continuous support to the party to raise issues afflicting them in the next five years. I want to assure that we will not let the people down,” he added.
HSPDP president KP Pangniang expressed surprise over the decision of the UDP and PDF to support the NPP.
“Now, it is for the people to judge the present leadership among the regional forces. The people need to give them a befitting reply. It is beyond my imagination since I was thinking that this move to have a government led by the regional forces was serious,” Pangniang said.
Refusing to point fingers on those responsible for the drama, he said, “I will not be able to draw a conclusion on who is responsible for this whole political drama. It looks like this thing was staged.”
Pangniang said he spent a few sleepless nights after his party (HSPDP) was tagged as a “traitor” and he had gone out of his way to ensure that a government led by regional forces become a reality.
