SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Tuesday said the State will have a more stable government once the party comes back to power after the 2018 Assembly polls.
Last week, the chief minister met the Congress High Command to discuss both national and state politics and also to adopt strategy to win the next Assembly elections in Meghalaya.
Though the chief minister did not divulge the details of his meeting with the leaders in the High Command, he told reporters that it is necessary on the part of the Congress to come together.
“We are at a crucial junction and our interest is to protect the interest of the nation. Only the Congress can take on BJP. I am afraid that if the Congress does not take on BJP, there is no other party that can do that,” Sangma said.
To a question, Sangma said while BJP is euphoric after the party’s performance in the northeastern states, there is a sense of apprehension.
“Why is the North East BJP’s target? It is not for numbers but to create a perception that BJP is accepted in the North East and that everything is good with BJP. But people of Meghalaya are not like that of Nagaland and other northeastern states. People here want development,” Sangma said.
According to the chief minister, if BJP becomes stronger it will weaken the Congress and “today what the nation is because of the Congress and now we are going the Pakistan way”.
Sangma said most important is to stop the BJP from going ahead with the dangerous designs. Rahul Gandhi left alone He said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was the lone defender of the party during the defeats in the polls while other senior Congress leaders had ‘vanished’.He said anti-incumbency of the UPA, which ruled for 10 years, was the main reason for the defeat in the 2014 general elections and added that the corruption during the period was mainly due to the coalition government at the Centre.
He deplored that subsequently when the Congress was defeated in the polls, the galaxy of Congress leaders was nowhere to be seen leaving the Congress vice president to defend himself. He also said 15 years of anti-incumbency in Assam and Manipur were also the reasons for the defeat of the party in the Assembly polls.
Analysing the national political scenario, Sangma said after the anti-corruption movement, Arvind Kejriwal became the chief minister of Delhi and the vacuum created was used by BJP to secure power at the Centre.
Stating that the party won in Punjab and emerged as the single largest in Goa and Manipur, the chief minister said the Congress will not lose hope.”We will have to create a citizenry to take on the parties inimical to the nation,” he added.
