Shillong MP and Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Vincent H Pala today told party workers that the upcoming general election will be unlike any other since the central government is using the Tax Department to freeze 11 bank accounts of the Congress Party, tying up around Rs 215 crore.
“They have forcefully withdrawn the money from the Congress account to the Income Tax accounts. So we will be fighting this election with a lot of restraints in terms of resources,” Pala told reporters after a party meeting held at Congress Bhavan.
The sitting Congress MP said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in control of the central government is doing this because it knows that the Congress is the only real force that can fight them effectively in this election.
The central leadership of the Congress has dubbed the account freeze as unprecedented and undemocratic.
For the last few months, the Congress has been crowdfunding to help it with election expenses and funds from Meghalaya have also played a part.
Pala also said that he told his party workers not to deploy personal attacks against candidates or leaders of other parties as this “is not the culture of our politics in Meghalaya”.
Instead, the party will focus on the Congress’s promises, policies and vision for the country, be it in terms of the youth, women empowerment, unemployment, education, minimum support price for farmers, etc.
Although nominations are open for the two Meghalaya Lok Sabha seats, none have been received. Pala said that he and the Congress candidate for the Tura seat, Saleng Sangma, will both file their nomination papers on March 25.
According to the Shillong MP, he, through his tours of the state, feels that the public are leaning towards the Congress.
Of his opponents, Pala said that the National People’s Party (NPP) is strong because it is the ruling party in Meghalaya, the United Democratic Party (UDP) is almost as strong as it is the second-largest party in terms of Assembly seats and is also in government, while the Voice of the People Party (VPP) is using communal tactics to stir up Khasis against Garos. On the BJP, he opined that it is strong in urban areas and will use its national muscle and money power in order to woo voters.
“Many of our leaders may have been lured at this juncture but the workers are still with us,” he said, adding that the people feel that only the Congress can fight against the communal forces as it is a party that respects minorities.
“The voters of Shillong, Tura are well aware of the decisions taken by the BJP and definitely this time people will look towards the Congress but we have to work hard. We are not taking it lightly and we have to encourage our people on the ground to go for campaigning,” Pala, who has held the Shillong seat since 2009, said.
