Shillong: Calling for equal responsibility and blame shared among the allies of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma and national president of the National People’s Party (NPP) on Saturday hit back at the BJP, stating that they were very much part of the govt for the last five years.
Sangma’s reaction follows Union Home Minister Amit Shah calling Meghalaya one of the most corrupt states in the country. He also stated that such statements are not new, since BJP has been making these statements in political campaigns in West Bengal, Telangana and Delhi.
“The BJP is making these statements for election purposes, but as I said, the BJP is part of this government and they’ve worked with us,” mentioned Sangma after attending the swearing-in ceremony of the new Governor in the state.
Asked about the BJP mentioning it will probe into all allegations of corruption in the government in its manifesto, Sangma welcomed the decision. He also reacted to the chargesheet released by Congress against the MDA govt. Sangma said that the inquiry into Saubhagya Scheme has been done, the report has been submitted and has been placed in the public domain.
“Similarly, for the rice scam also, which they say is a Scam, the inquiry has been done. It’s an allegation that we have also placed the reports,” added Sangma.
However, when a media person countered the CM’s claim, mentioning that these reports had not been made public and nobody knew the report’s content, the CM disagreed, saying that the report was public or at least the report’s summary had been issued to everybody.
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Cannot stop mining all of a sudden
Sangma also said Meghalaya couldn’t simply stop mining when it had been legal for 200 years.
Sangma’s response came amid the High Court of Meghalaya ordering for the deployment of Central forces after finding that the state machinery, including the police, were unable to control illegal mining and coal transportation.
“We can’t just simply say that people will just leave their livelihood. Wherever we had to take action against individuals or arrest individuals or file cases, that has been done,” said the chief minister.
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