SHILLONG:
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), in an all-out attack on Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on June 29, termed him “conman” and asked him to stop being a “puppet” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Conrad Sangma eventually became Conman Sangma. If you still have some dignity left in yourself, stop behaving like a puppet…,” said the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, while addressing the launch of a pan-state membership drive after inaugurating the state party office in Lower Lachumiere.
Terming it “shameful” how the chief minister of the state is busy attending dinner parties in Delhi, at a time when his state is facing adversities such as natural calamities and crises, Banerjee observed that the Conrad’s body language changes every time he meets the BJP’s top brass in the national capital.
“Have you seen his (Conrad) body language when he meets the people in Delhi; when he meets the BJP top brass? You are the chief minister who has been elected by the people. You are carrying the aspirations, hope and respect of 35 lakh Meghalayans; is this how you bow down to BJP leaders? Is this what the people of Meghalaya deserve?” he questioned.
“In the name of border dispute settlement, you saw the unprecedented rather unacceptable move in which the government surrendered land to Assam. All this was done to please the masters in Delhi. Those who have lived their lives as Meghalayans and cherished the hard-fought statehood are suddenly being made to live as residents of another state. What can be more shameful than this? A government that has little or no respect for its land is not worthy of holding a position of power,” he said.
The AITC leader said the National People’s Party (NPP) government has completely ignored the interest of the people and has been a “mere proxy and puppet” in the hands of the BJP. “The abodes of clouds have become a haven for the corrupt, we have to change that,” he added.
Training guns at the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA), Banerjee said, “They formed an alliance called the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) but Conrad Sangma should rename that acronym MDA as “My Development Alliance”. If any development has happened in the last five years, it is Conrad Sangma’s development.”
Urging the people of Meghalaya to support the AITC to oust the “corrupt” government in power in the next six months, Abhishek said, “If NPP is the virus, Trinamool is the vaccine.”
The AITC leader also assured that, if brought to power, the party will make sure that the Meghalaya is ruled by Meghalayans. “I assure you that in six months when you have a new government in place, Meghalaya will rule Meghalaya, Bengal will not rule Meghalaya. Khasi will be ruled by the Khasi, Garo by the Garo and Jaintia by the Jaintia, Meghalaya will be ruled by Meghalayans. This is Trinamool Congress’ commitment to you,” he said.
Also present were AITC Meghalaya State President Charles Pyngrope, AITC Legislature party leader Dr. Mukul Sangma and AITC Meghalaya in-charge Dr. Manas Ranjan Bhunia. “Dr Sangma and Pyngrope and every MLA when they decided to take on the National People’s Party (NPP) government and were looking for a platform, they all came to AITC as it is just a platform. All our MLAs in the state are sons of the soil and they will work for you,” he said.