MAWKYRWAT, April 28: President of the Voice of the People Party (VPP), Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Friday reiterated that his party would fight corruption, wasting of public money on government appointees, and the misuse of power tooth and nail.
The party had fought the recent Assembly elections in the state with the same agenda of rooting out corruption in the state and had even promised to bring to book anyone found indulging in corrupt practices.
“We have made our stand clear that we will not indulge in corruption and we will not allow others to be corrupt in these five years. The economy of the state was destroyed in the past five years and our state is now in a financial crisis,” he said at a public meeting organised at the Dorbar Hall Mawkyrwat for a VPP enrolment drive.
Basaiawmoit lashed out at the MDA 2.0 Government for claiming that it would transform Meghalaya into a $10 billion economy.
“How can our economy reach $10 billion when 70-80% of our income comes from loans? Who will repay the debt? Now, we are in danger of falling into a debt trap,” he said, adding that the government should highlight the revenue generated on its own during the MDA tenure instead of showing off.
“Besides not being able to generate revenue on its own, this government is wasting public money by appointing ex-MLAs as chairmen, chief advisers, advisers, etc. Sadly, the general public does not understand that this is a waste of public money. They also appoint people from outside as consultants apart from giving jobs to retired IAS while our youths are unemployed,” Basaiawmoit said.
The VPP leader also expressed shock to see the ‘misuse of power’ by people (ex-MLAs) who were rejected by the people. “Just because they are in the government as chairman, they want to follow up on the implementation of the government schemes as if they sanctioned these schemes from their own pockets. This is the misuse of power and if these people remained in power for the next five to 10 years, they will put a bullet into your mouth every time you raise your voice,” he said.
Basaiawmoit called upon the people in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills and the state as a whole to vote for the VPP in the upcoming district council elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha election for bringing about changes in the state.
