SHILLONG, Aug 16: Tura MP and Congress stalwart Saleng A Sangma on Friday dared the National People’s Party (NPP) to sever its ties with the BJP.
He threw the gauntlet reacting to minister and NPP leader Rakkam Sangma’s charge that the BJP had supported the Congress in the last Lok Sabha elections in the Tura seat.
Saleng said BJP leader Bernard Marak’s statement that many BJP workers were not happy with the party’s decision to not contest the polls and voted for the Congress as a gospel truth.
“BJP and Congress are like fire and water and we will never work together,” Saleng said, adding that the leaders of the NPP lost their mind after he had won from the Tura seat.
He said it is ridiculous for the NPP to assume that the BJP extended support to the Congress when the central ministers think Meghalaya is an NDA-ruled state.
He said as he went to the polls, he had approached many individuals, including NPP and BJP leaders, seeking their support.
“They supported me as an individual and not as the candidate of a party,” Saleng said.
He asked the NPP to show some guts by severing its ties with the BJP rather than speaking about him. The BJP has two MLAs – AL Hek and Sanbor Shullai. Hek is a Cabinet minister.
Recently, Rakkam had accused the BJP of backstabbing the NPP by extending support to the Congress in Tura. He had taken strong note of Bernard’s statement that BJP workers supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
Leader of the Opposition Ronnie V Lyngdoh alleged that the NPP-led MDA government is indulging in vindictive politics of discrimination against opposition MLAs.
Recalling great leaders like Capt WA Sangma, BB Lyngdoh, Purno A Sangma and Salseng C Marak who all had worked not only for their constituencies but also for the entire state, Lyngdoh alleged the present dispensation is indulging in vindictive politics of discrimination by denying development schemes to the Opposition MLAs.
“You are not only denying development to the Opposition MLAs but also denying the due right of the people of the constituencies to get development,” he said.
Stating that some Congress leaders had ditched the party as they were hungry for power and they dreamt of tasting it by joining the Trinamool Congress, he said people in today’s world are intelligent and they have continued to stand behind the Congress.
Lyngdoh said there is democracy in the Congress and if MLAs leave the party, they are not only betraying it but also betraying people’s mandate.
“When you contest an election, people also look up to the party you are representing,” he added.
