SHILLONG, March 26: The BJP has stirred a hornet’s nest with its decision to not contest the Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya and instead, support the National People’s Party (NPP).
The decision has not gone down well, particularly in the Garo Hills where the leaders and workers are going for party state chief Rikman Momin’s jugular. They want him to resign.
The BJP suffered a major jolt on Monday when its state vice president and former Chief Executive Member of Garo Hills Autonomous District Council Dipul R Marak ditched the party, ostensibly as a mark of protest against this decision. If party insiders are to be believed, several others will soon follow suit.
Trouble has been brewing within the BJP’s state unit ever since the party decided to opt out of the poll race in the state.
“Momin failed to convince the central leaders (that BJP should contest). The report submitted by the Lok Sabha committee, which Dipul Marak was looking after, was also not submitted to the central leaders and the party’s core committee,” a senior leader of the party said requesting anonymity.
Stating that there is now a growing demand for Momin’s resignation, he said, “The state president failed to satisfy the leaders in Garo Hills. Rikman sold us out. He did not fight for Garo Hills. (State BJP in-charge) M Chuba Ao’s statement that the two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya are ‘weak seats’ for BJP is also very disappointing. We should have at least put up a fight.”
The BJP leader said Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma is scared of the BJP and as such, he did not want it to contest. The BJP leader also said that they could sniff victory for the BJP in the Tura seat.
He said most of the leaders could not digest the direction of the central leadership and they are leaving the party.
“Dipul Marak has left being not happy with the state president. Some other leaders are also ready to leave the party. In the coming days, there will be many resignations and migrations from the BJP,” the leader said.
He lamented that hard work put in by the grassroots workers was not taken into consideration and they are disappointed as they did not see the state leaders fight for the seat.
“As party president, Shibun Lyngdoh had fought for candidature in Garo Hills in 2019 and Rikman was the candidate. Now, when there has been so much of hard work and effort given by the karyakartas, we could not fight which is a big disappointment,” the BJP leader said.
He said after receiving the direction from the central leadership, Momin should have first come and discussed the matter with the party leaders and workers before going to meet the CM and officially extending support to the NPP.
“He is yet to come. He shouldn’t have met the CM before meeting the Garo Hills leaders. They are feeling betrayed by their own Garo president,” the BJP leader said.
