You talk about clean politics, but the VPP leader is not practising what he preaches. During his tenure in the council, he removed 12 contractual workers and replaced them with individuals from his Nongkrem constituency. I have the list of names and can prove it
SHILLONG, Feb 16: VPP chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit continues to face accusations of nepotism, not only from his party’s MLA but also from the ruling NPP, which has criticised him for allegedly contradicting his own principles of “clean politics.”
“You talk about clean politics, but the VPP leader is not practising what he preaches. During his tenure in the council, he removed 12 contractual workers and replaced them with individuals from his Nongkrem constituency. I have the list of names and can prove it,” said KHADC Chief Executive Member (CEM) and NPP candidate, Pyniaid Sing Syiem, at a public gathering.
Syiem noted that all political parties have been involved in recruiting their supporters within the district council. However, he claimed that under his leadership, applications from all constituencies are considered for recruitment.
Addressing the issue of job recruitment in KHADC and the allegations of nepotism, Syiem pointed out that recruitment has been taking place since 1972 without a formal policy. “I would not call this an unfair practice because, despite having service rules, there has never been a proper recruitment policy in the district council to regulate hiring,” he said.
He further stated that under his leadership as CEM, a proposal has been sent to the state government and the Raj Bhavan to review and revoke appointments made since 2000.
Syiem also claimed to have regularised the positions of contractual workers who had been left without security for the past 21 years, emphasizing that this move does not benefit him personally, as these individuals come from various constituencies.
It may be recalled that VPP MLA Adelbert Nongrum had earlier asked the party leadership to admit that the allocation of the party tickets for KHADC and JHADC polls was based on favouritism and nepotism. Before this, the NPP had dug up Ardent’s disastrous move for patriliny instead of matriliny to be adopted by the Khasis.
