SHILLONG: State Urban Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader, Ronnie V Lyngdoh has asserted that it is a bluff on part of the Bharatiya Janata Party who has stated that the ban on coal mining will be lifted within six months if they come to power in the state after 2018 Assembly election.
Talking to journalists here on Thursday, Ronnie V Lyngdoh said that one of the leaders of the BJP who had made the comment in this regard was fooling people of the state.
“Before 2014 elections, they (BJP) had said that they would create two crore jobs but on the contrary, unemployment is on the rise,” he said.
He also slammed the BJP over the comment saying the ban on coal mining was imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and BJP was only making such false promises to hoodwink people for electoral benefits.
Asserting that Congress will come back to Power in Meghalaya in 2018, Lyngdoh said that that the party was not concerned if two associate independent MLAs joined the saffron party since Congress have the mandate of the people. “The people will continue to repose their faith on Congress especially because of the climate which exists in the country at the moment,” he said.
He also added that if the two MLAs joined the BJP, then they would attract the provisions of the Tenth Schedule and they are liable to be disqualified.
On being asked if BJP is a threat for Congress in Meghalaya, the senior Congress leader pointed out that the BJP had claimed that they would win maximum seats in the KHADC by-election held last year but they did not win even a single seat
“In the next Assembly elections, the results will be same as it was in the KHADC by-election,” he said and added that the mandate of the people in Manipur was for Congress but BJP snatched that away and trampled upon the democratic convention which, according to him, is the biggest corruption.
