Trinamool Congress national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee today took a swipe from Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s turf and said the National People’s Party (NPP) will “draw a blank” in Garo Hills, which has 24 assembly seats.
“Mark my words, NPP will draw a blank from Garo Hills and Conrad Sangma is losing his own seat,” he said at a public meeting following a padyatra from the Hawakhana Petrol Pump to Tura Bazar under South Tura constituency.
Slamming the “malicious propaganda” against Trinamool Congress by other parties, Banerjee said, “Six months back, they said Trinamool Congress has no base here. But now, if you look at their speeches, tweets, and statements, you will see that their day begins and ends with attacks on TMC. This shows how bewildered and rattled they are.”
“While crossing the offices of the district collectorate, treasury office, the DIG office, and Tura police station, I noticed that these stretches were covered in darkness. There was no streetlight on either side of the road. If the Chief Minister cannot bring light to his own constituency, how can he bring development for the state?” he questioned.
The TMC leader spoke about the Mukroh firing incident and slammed the chief minister stating he never acted when innocent people were fired upon. “The accused [in the incident] did not even receive a notice. This is because the Assam CM is from BJP, which is in power at the Centre. If Meghalaya CM would have sent a notice to Assam CM, the next day itself, Conrad Sangma would have received a notice from the ED. To save himself from ED-CBI and continue his illegal businesses, he is sacrificing his own people,” he said, “I promise that as soon as Trinamool forms government, within one month, the accused officers in the Mukroh firing will be arrested and no culprit will be spared.”
He exuded confidence that the TMC will form the government in the State and will implement the 10 pledges within three months of coming to power. “These are not just promises but pledges. There is a difference between the two. Promises are meant to be broken but pledges are meant to be kept,” he said.
TMC Legislature Party Leader Dr. Mukul Sangma stated there is a “MDA-Himanta Biswa Sarma nexus” and if the government in Meghalaya is being run by those in power in Assam and Delhi its hard-earned statehood will become futile.
“In the ongoing Assam-Meghalaya border issue, Assam’s Chief Minister dictated and imposed it [the MoU] and the CM of Meghalaya signed it, even though the people of the state did not accept it.
TMC State In-Charge Dr. Manas Ranjan Bhunia, TMC candidates for South Tura Richard M Marak, North Tura Rupert M Sangma, Chokpot Lazarus M Sangma, TMC State Mahila President Selma D Shira and TMC State General Secretary Mukul Das among other leaders were present at the programme.