SHILLONG, Feb 21: The state BJP on Sunday said it was ready to hold dialogues to iron out issues but maintained that it was the responsibility of chief minister Conrad Sangma to initiate the discussions as the leader of the MDA coalition.
“It is for the state government to take the initiative. The leader of the party leading the alliance should take the initiative. If they take the initiative, there is no harm in having discussions as we are raising people’s issues and not individual issues,” state BJP vice president, Dipayan Chakraborty said on Sunday.
Making it clear that the BJP will not hold dialogues if not initiated by the chief minister, Chakraborty said, “They have to invite us for talks as it is the responsibility of elder brother to call us and see the things we have raised and also the reasons for not going for a CBI inquiry”.
To a query that the chief minister had earlier maintained that his doors were always open for the coalition partners to come and discuss things, the state BJP vice-president said, “Our president had already walked into his office on July 9 and briefed him of all the issues that we are raising, but nothing was done… and now if he feels then he should call the BJP for talks”.
He pointed out that in all the MDA coordination committee meetings held in the past, the state BJP president was never invited.
“If they call us for talks we will decide who will represent the party. It may be the legislative party leader with others and that is not the prerogative of the government to select our leaders; it has to be decided by the party,” the State BJP leader said.
It may be mentioned that earlier, both the parties had agreed to sit for talks.
A MDA coordination committee meeting, represented by the two BJP MLAs was also held.
However, the discord continued as the state BJP president was not invited to the meeting.