From Saurav Borah
Tura, Nov. 9: Former Cabinet minister and Meghalaya Trinamool Congress vice-president Zenith Sangma is batting for his wife and TMC candidate for Gambegre LAC, Sadhiarani M Sangma to win the by-poll.
“We (TMC) are number one and set to win the by-poll. The ruling party (NPP) is desperate to win the polls as they are offering whatever they can. They are scared of losing the election. But the people will not vote for the ruling party because of lack of development in Gambegre,” Zenith told The Shillong Times here on Saturday.
Notably, Sadhiarani, who is the lone female MDC in GHADC, was placed second in the 2023 and 2018 Assembly elections, after Saleng A Sangma in both polls.
Accusing the NPP-led government of not caring much for Gambegre over the years, Zenith said, “There are so many villages without good roads, except for those under PMGSY, which are few. Healthcare and education facilities are poor. There is water scarcity, but the party in power is not concerned.”
Pointing out issues of livelihoods of farmers in the horticulture hub, the TMC leader alleged that the “party in power was taking advantage of the poor people and that not much was done on market linkages to help sell the products of the local farmers.”
“Once the jhum/shifting cultivation was prohibited, the farmers had to shift to cash crops such as arecanut, cashewnut, etc. However, over the past year, arecanuts smuggled from Myanmar and Bangladesh, are eating into the profit margins of farmers who are not getting the rates they should,” Zenith said.
“In fact, a probe was ordered on March 4 this year under an ADM, and the DC and SP of Resubelpara was transferred. This reflects that such smuggling was done under the patronage of the authorities,” he alleged.
