SHILLONG, April 3: Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader Alexander Laloo Hek on Monday said that the remark of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that Meghalaya is the most corrupt state in the country cannot be considered as mere election statement as claimed recently by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.
Soon after forming the MDA 2.0 Government with the BJP and others, the Chief Minister had dismissed Shah’s controversial remark as election hazard and said charges are traded during elections.
However, making it clear that the Union Home Minister meant business when he made the statement, Hek said, “The statement came from a leader who is leading the country and as the party we will continue to fight against corruption.”
When asked if the party will demand for an independent probe, he said that the demand has to come from the central leadership.
“We are part of the NPP-led MDA 2.0 following the directive of the central leadership. As loyal party MLAs we will abide by any directive of the central leaders,” Hek said. Replying to a question on whether he has suffered at a personal level for continuously raising the issue of corruption during the tenure of the previous government, the BJP minister said that it was his duty as an elected representative to raise issues affecting the people and the state.
“I don’t agree that I am getting minor departments for being vocal on the alleged corruption of the MDA 1.0 Government. For me every department is important since I am here to serve the people and state. There are no major and minor departments as such. All departments are equally important,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hek appealed to the partners of the MDA 2.0 to impress upon the Chief Minister to come up with a Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
“There was no CMP in the MDA 1.0. But now we all need to insist that a CMP should be in place,” the BJP leader said.
On the election to the Sohiong constituency, he said that both the national and state leaders will go all out to ensure the party candidate wins the Sohiong seat.
Asked if anti-incumbency or the sympathy factor will have any impact on the outcome of the bypoll, Hek declined to comment, saying he had no connection with Sohiong constituency.
“I am not aware about the political developments in Sohiong,” Hek said, while expressed satisfaction that the BJP did well in the recent Assembly elections by increasing its vote share as compared to the last elections.
“The BJP did well by coming second in as many as nine constituencies,” he added.
