SHILLONG:
Chief minister Conrad Sangma urged the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) not to politicise the vexed border issue with Assam and the steps taken by the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) to resolve it, on July 13.
Coming down heavily on the leader of opposition, Mukul Sangma, for “promising” to the people that he will undo the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two states if voted to power in the 2023 polls, Conrad questioned on what grounds is the latter making such statements as he didn’t initiate any step to resolve the decades-old issue during his reign as the chief minister.
“I urge the opposition not to play politics with this issue as the people of the state have suffered for too long. When they (Mukul and Co.) were in power for eight years, they didn’t do anything about it and now, when finally, something has happened, they just want to undo it. I think they should take it in a positive manner and be happy that we finally found a solution to a very complicated problem,” said the Chief Minister.
Conrad was reacting to a statement made by Mukul on July 12 when the leader of opposition, in the regard to the MoU, had said that he will “rectify the blunder” made by the MDA government if elected as the agreement cannot be a final one as people are against it. “It is very sad that the AITC made this statement,” Conrad said.
He further reminded Mukul that the border agreement signed with Assam was based on 2011 report submitted by then Mukul Sangma-led Congress government.
“Now, those same people are saying that one should go back to the revenue maps. Aren’t you (Mukul) kind of negating your own work; your own stand? We weren’t there when he made those reports. We worked based on the reports made by his government in 2011 and I am happy to tell you that 99% of those villages have come to Meghalaya,” he said.
The Chief Minister reiterated that it was the government of Meghalaya in 2011 which went through the revenue maps and submitted a report to Assam that there were 12 areas of differences.
Urging the AITC not to make the border agreement an election issue, the Chief Minister also asked the opposition to focus on issues such as development instead.
Earlier on March 29, the governments of Meghalaya and Assam had inked the border agreement for resolving six of the twelve areas of differences at New Delhi in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Chief Minister also informed that the second phase of talks on the issue will begin after both the governments tackle the prevailing flood situation. “We are trying to see that we are able to provide relief to the people and bring back life to normalcy and Assam, as you know, is still badly affected and hence once the flood situation improves, we will definitely take the discussion forward,” he said.