TURA, Oct 23: Trinamool Congress candidate Sadhiarani M Sangma filed her nomination for the upcoming by-election to the Gambegre seat on Wednesday. She was confident that she would sail through and remarked that her main competitor was NPP’s Mehtab Chandee Sangma.
“The contest is not with Saleng and the Congress but with the NPP,” she added.
Sadhiarani was flanked by her husband, Zenith Sangma as well former chief minister, Mukul Sangma along with a host of supporters. Her nomination brought the total number of candidates that have filed their papers to three with another independent candidate, Jerry A Sangma also filing his nomination on the day.
“I am confident because the people of Gambegre love me; they will never leave me and will vote for me. The NPP is trying their best but misusing government machinery. Majority of the people in Gambegre are poor and the NPP is taking advantage of their poverty. They are distributing CGI sheets and money in a desperate attempt to win votes,” Sadhiarani said.
The AITC contestant is contesting the seat for the third time, losing in a very close battle with Saleng in 2018. Saleng had a relatively easy win in 2023.
Mukul Sangma said he was confident of their party winning through.
“I have seen the love of the people for our candidate. The overall desire of the people is also palpable in the narrative of the entire state. There is a desire to unseat the present incumbent government – the NPP-BJP combine. The government has camouflaged itself to take people for a ride and have engaged in blatant irregularities all over,” said Mukul.
Mukul added that there was frustration amongst the youth due to the lack of opportunities in both the government and private sector.
He also hit out at Conrad over a statement that he allegedly made during his election campaign.
“The CM said that people should vote for the ruling party or they would only be getting MLA schemes instead of development. What does this mean? Does he not understand the responsibility of a CM? Right to equal opportunity is a fundamental right. Can he stop such schemes from reaching the people? What about JJM and MGNREGA? JJM is being shoddily done but it is a guaranteed scheme for the people. Can he stop this,” asked Mukul.
“State government has no schemes for the people. It is because the state has no money, they are not even filling the vacancies that have been created. The government now is borrowing from everywhere – the open market, banks and everywhere they can to make ends meet,” said the former CM while also referring to the CAG report which stated that Meghalaya’s debt burden was scary.
