SHILLONG: State NPP President, W R Kharlukhi has admitted that some damages have been done to the prospects of the party over the CAB, now CAA episode, even as he added that it was the BJP which would suffer the most in the North Eastern states following their stand on the contentious law.
Talking to media persons here on Saturday, State President WR Kharlukhi however maintained that the party remains opposed to CAA and was pursuing earnestly the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and exemption of the state from the purview of the CAA.
The NPP which was spearheading the opposition against CAB shocked everyone when Tura MP Agatha Sangma voted in its favour in the Parliament.
Although the NPP National president and Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma tried to cushion the impact but widespread protest met this move until recently when a resolution was passed to pursue the centre to implement ILP in the state, the response of which is awaited from the Centre.
“Though damage has been done to the party to a certain extent, people would see how serious we are as a party,” said the NPP state president.
Stating that the opposition Congress has also taken full advantage of the situation, Kharlukhi said, “Opposition has taken advantage of the situation but when it comes to 2023 we will see. We will go to the people and tell them what we have done that we are sincere and let the people decide”.
On CAA and its impact on the political prospects of the BJP, Kharlukhi said, “In the whole country I don’t think the CAA will affect the BJP but in the North East looking at the situation as it is today BJP is gone in all the states of the Northeast”.
“BJP will be more affected by the economic downturn along with losing allies in every state,” he added.
Reiterating that the NPP stands oppose to the CAA, Kharlukhi said, “I don’t think it will affect the NPP. We have decided that we are against CAA and even today our national secretary has said that in the North East we are against the implementation of the CAA”.
“We in Meghalaya have passed a resolution demanding ILP and our Chief Minister will be pursuing it in New Delhi to implement it in Meghalaya as soon as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, on the demand of passing a resolution to oppose CAA, Kharlukhi said that this demand of exempting Meghalaya from the purview of CAA was already there and they were pursuing this.