Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
National spokesperson of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Saket Gokhale on December 13 referred to Commissioner and Secretary D Vijay Kumar as a “super chief minister of Meghalaya”.
“Since he has clearly been implicated this time, hence this government has gotten scared,” Gokhale said of the state government filing a defamation case against him.
The TMC spokesperson said that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is trying to protect Kumar which is quite sad.
“There is one super chief minister sitting in Guwahati and there is one IAS super chief minister sitting and the Chief Minister only takes orders from them directly,” he said.
Gokhale also said that if the government of Meghalaya has the guts it should come out clean and agree to have a debate on the issue.
The suit filed by the government of Meghalaya and Meghalayan Age Limited (MAL) termed Gokhale’s claims as “deliberate, derogatory and malicious”.
Gokhale had allegedly claimed that a state-owned tourism firm misappropriated funds worth over Rs 630 crore.
The TMC spokesperson said that one cannot defame somebody who is already infamous for looting, and added that the state government is desperate. He also said that he had personally asked the state government to come for a debate where all the evidence against it will also be produced.
“The fact that this government has rejected it, is ironic. Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong called me a psycho and then proceeded to file a defamation suit. I have filed a counter suit against him. But who will file a defamation suit against the state government for defaming the state of Meghalaya,” Gokhale said.
He said that when a scam is caught the government has to give an explaination, and because this government has no explanation to give they are filing a defamation suit to intimidate.
The TMC spokesperson said that these defamation suits do not scare him and he has spent an entire week in a lock up in Gujarat.
“These kinds of petty tactics don’t scare me,” he said.
According to Gokhale the CM is scared and there will be more to come, not only concerning Meghalayan Age Limited but also corruption in different departments in this government.
He also said that he is ready to submit before Tynsong for a psychological evaluation if in return he agrees to come and have a debate with the TMC spokesperson and not go into a corner like a coward.
“Have some guts come and sit down for a debate if you have done nothing wrong. But if you are a thief, you have defamed the state of Meghalaya, file as many law suits. I will defame you because you are defaming the people of Meghalaya. Thieves have no reputation, there is no question of defaming a thief,” the TMC spokesperson said.