From Our Correspondent
TURA, Nov 9: Gambegre candidate for the BJP, Bernard Marak, through a statement claimed that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma was not an agent of the BJP but its adopted son.
The statement comes in the wake of TMC Mukul Sangma’s fiery accusation during a campaign in the ongoing bypoll who called the CM an agent of the saffron party and the fact that it was the BJP that facilitated his induction as CM of the state despite him not being an MLA.
“Mukul Sangma’s statement is not correct because he thinks Conrad Sangma is an agent which is wrong. Conrad is not an agent but our family member. Conrad Sangma may not be BJP’s own son but he is our adopted son. He was made a caretaker of the Democratic Alliance coalition in Meghalaya to promote good governance and to deliver the benefits promised by our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,” said Bernard.
The fight for the Gambegre seat has heated up of late with accusations and counters flowing freely between candidates as well as senior leaders. The BJP is in a scrap that includes the NPP, the TMC, Congress and two other independent candidates.
“As far as my campaigns are concerned, I am campaigning for myself and I am gaining ground as planned. However my fight is not with the candidates alone but with CM himself, with former CM (Mukul Sangma) and MP of Tura (Saleng Sangma). I only see these leaders campaigning rather than the candidates so I am contesting the prominent leaders of Garo Hills,” said the Tura MDC.
In terms of what has been lacking in the constituency, Bernard stated that all sorts of development right from water, free ration, road, water, house, education, health etc were missing and it was his mission to make people understand and to seek their support.
On the claims by the NPP which allegedly listed MGNREGA work as employment provided by the state, Bernard asked the NPP to stop such misleading claims
“MGNREGS is not from the state but from the central government which is led by BJP. NPP should stop making such claims as they are not the authority of such schemes but mere caretakers. In fact, their suppliers deducted 50% of the amount meant for supply of materials under MGNREGS,” he alleged.