SHILLONG:
NPP and Congress candidates from East Shillong, Ampareen Lyngdoh and Manuel Badwar, and TMC candidate from Umroi, George B Lyngdoh, on February 17, engaged in a fiery debate on several issues ranging from unemployment to coal mining interspersing it with blame game and mudslinging as the state inches closer to the assembly election on February 27.
Participating in the panel discussion titled DD Dialogue organised by DD Meghalaya at MIIT Complex in Dhankheti, the three leaders threw verbal punches at each other in their bid to counter the claims and allegations, and to justify and clarify their stand on different issues.
The verbal fight among the trio took centre stage, drawing attention of the audience, mostly comprising students, to the core agendas of their respective parties.
When asked whether anti-incumbency would affect the NPP, Ampareen Lyngdoh replied in the negative and said, “NPP has a strong group of individuals joining the party. This is a new face of NPP. With the political situation that occurred in Meghalaya, there is a feeling among many legislators to join and strengthen one party in the hope that Meghalaya will shed its habit of returning a hung House.”
“So incumbent factor will not arise for a party like NPP because all the coalition partners were part of the MDA; hence responsibility does not fall on a single party alone (sic),” she added.
She further said that in East Khasi Hills where there are 17 assembly constituencies and 13 political parties, “there may be some consolidation of support for the NPP because, in all likelihood, the new leaders who have joined the party would bring along with them their own rank and file.”
Meanwhile, countering the “Bengali party” tag given to TMC, George Lyngdoh said such terms were unwarranted as India is a democratic country. “TMC, with young leadership, set foot in the state because Meghalaya needs a change,” he said.
Attacking the NPP-led MDA government, George questioned, “What can you expect from a government that was stitched in a short period of time by Himanta Biswa Sarma and has no common minimum programme or a common agenda?”
Hitting back, Ampareen said, “Stitched or unstitched, someone has to govern the state. We may not have a common minimum programme but parties from outside should not opine on these things when coalition partners don’t feel the need.”
Replying to queries on legislators jumping from one party to another ahead of elections, the TMC leader said, “Yes, we were in opposition Congress, but with rumbling within Congress, we had to make a choice; we were given an option to join the government but we decided to stand our ground and join TMC.”
Butting heads with the seasoned politicians like George and Ampareen, Manuel Badwar, a first-time candidate of Congress, countered attacks against the party by his co-panelists on tickets being allotted to corrupt individuals and ex-militants.
Being ex-Congress legislators, both George and Ampareen came down heavily on the grand old party and asked a young Manuel Badwar to introspect and question the party high command on ticket allocations, even as they claimed that the decision is and has always been taken by the All India Congress Committee, while the state party continues to remain a mute spectator.
“I am telling you, a disconnect occurred in Congress, creating confusion among the public. That is why we left because we are trying to stabilise the politics in the state. Meghalaya is looking towards a new political scenario, because Congress is fumbling when it comes to choosing a candidate,” NPP’s Ampareen Lyngdoh said.
Countering this statement, Badwar denied any fumbling or error in judgement. “No, we are not fumbling; we are a young team with the highest number of women candidates than any other party, each professional in their respective fields; we adopted an inclusive approach,” Badwar said.
To queries on allegations of corruption, illegal mining and other malpractices in the implementation of different schemes, Ampareen Lyngdoh, who is also the NPP spokesperson, said, “Allegations of corruption are common to all governments going to election but allegations need to be substantiated. I don’t dare anyone because it is a factual statement – if you say we committed this and that, call an investigating agency to probe all these alleged malpractices.”
Countering her reply, TMC’s George Lyngdoh reminded Ampareen that a letter was submitted to the prime minister, drawing his attention to the various scams in Meghalaya, but nothing was done in this regard.
“They are taking the people for granted; look at the scams like smart meters or implementation of Saubhagya scheme. We are here to question the government’s intention,” George said.
Ampareen hit back and said, “There are procedures to submit charges of corruption; taking the charges to the doors of the PM and asking him to intervene is not the solution. You need to go to the correct authorities and place your charges with substantiated facts.”
Ampareen continued to attack TMC and asked the party to show their progress report. “TMC is entering Meghalaya with a blank sheet, without anything to prove. How will people invest their trust in them?” she questioned.
On mining, the NPP leader said, “I stick to one fact – NPP will have to ensure that mining is returned to normalcy and people in mining areas should be permitted to restart mining practices, within the ambit of the law.”
Claims and rebuttals on issues like unemployment, reservation policy and defections also got the audience glued to the discussion as they watched the trio putting up a fight to prove their points.