Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and National People’s Party (NPP) have seemingly put aside their pre-poll antagonism towards each other, one person at least has yet to mend fences and that is Tura MDC Bernard Marak.
Today, the state BJP vice-president claimed that the party’s candidates were up against not only their rivals but also the entire state machinery which was working against them.
Marak had unsuccessfully run against Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma of the NPP. The BJP only won two seats out of the 60 contested, both of which are in Shillong.
The MDC was highly critical of the rapid decision taken by the BJP to support the NPP in forming the government after the myriad attacks and allegations made by the saffron party against that of the CM.
Last year, Marak was arrested after police claimed that one of his properties was being used as a brothel and that arms and ammunition had been accumulated illegally by the militant-turned-politician.
Today he alleged that the state authorities were looking for any angle possible to go after the BJP candidates in Garo Hills.
“In the last days before the election, most of the BJP candidates were not allowed to go out of their homes as there were people in civil dress outside their gates. If they went out, the candidates would have been implicated in cases of illegal distribution of money (for votes) and other conspiracies,” Marak told reporters here.
However, he did admit that the party had also made mistakes in its election calculations but it will aim to correct these in time for the Lok Sabha election next year.
That campaign will focus on the schemes launched by the central government for the benefit of the Meghalayan people, he said. One of Marak’s criticisms has been that these schemes are poorly implemented in Meghalaya and, even when they are carried out properly, the state government tries to muscle in on all the publicity.
He gave examples of poorly-implemented schemes, like the Jal Jeevan Mission, where, Marak claimed, pipes have been laid but no water provided through them, and the PMAY scheme where houses were not constructed as mandated.
On the Parliamentary elections, he declined to project himself as a potential BJP candidate, merely stating that he wants to strengthen the party in Tura and beyond.
