SHILLONG, March 7: After aggressively campaigning and accusing NPP of corruption in Meghalaya, the BJP has taken a U-turn saying there is no proof of corruption against its dominant partner during the MDA-I.
BJP national vice-president and the party’s Meghalaya in charge, M. Chuba Ao gave a clean chit to the NPP on Tuesday while claiming that the allegations were meant for catching votes.
Less than a month ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had called Meghalaya the most corrupt state in the country. Both attended the swearing-in ceremony of NPP supremo Conrad K. Sangma as the Chief Minister indicating that the saffron party was not interested in dragging the issue any further.
In the latter half of the tenure of the MDA, the BJP had accused the NPP of large-scale corruption in the GHADC and had even threatened to walk out of the alliance government over such alleged ‘scams’.
“These were election-oriented allegations which cannot be taken into consideration (seriously),” Ao said, insisting that the party, having managed a cabinet berth in MDA 2.0, should respect its partners.
On the BJP’s vow to institute a probe into the alleged corruption cases, Ao said: “We do not have any proof. So, let us talk about how smoothly we can run the government.”
He pointed out that accusations fly thick and fast during elections and even the BJP had absorbed allegations of being a Hindu party by rivals-turned-allies.
He also stated in so many words that the BJP would not raise any corruption issues in the MDA 2.0. “We will come to know (of such cases) when we start working together again,” he added.
