The National People’s Party (NPP) today welcomed the move of the Voice of the People Party (VPP) to bring in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe allegations of corruption.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, also the NPP national president, said that the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government is very transparent and whatever the case maybe they have nothing to hide.
Concerning the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha election, Sangma said that they are accessing all issues and defeat could be due to many factors.
“To talk specifically about scams, I have seen this word used very casually – anything happens and people term it scam. Till now none of these allegations are true,” Sangma said. “It’s easy for people to point fingers but it’s necessary to have facts and figures. It’s not correct to jump to the conclusion but yes it’s a concern because that’s the narrative created and as a government we’ve ensured maximum transparency is there.”
The NPP lost its grip on the Tura Lok Sabha seat, losing to the Congress Party, while its candidate in the Shillong constituency finished third, well behind the VPP winner.
Sangma said that every election is different and issues are different and the way people vote differs, so one election cannot be compared to another. He refused to be drawn on identifying a main factor that could have contributed to the double defeat in Meghalaya. “We are assessing but it is too early to come out with an entire diagnosis,” he said.
The chief minister also thanked the people of Garo Hills for the last 46 years they have put their faith in the leadership of his family (his sister Agatha was the incumbent Tura MP).
Asked if this will be a threat for the government, Sangma said that they are confident after having a meeting with coalition partners where it was reiterated that the alliance will complete this term and work together in a very stable manner and serve the people based on the mandate given at the last state election.
Sangma will be heading to Delhi to attend the meeting called by the Prime Minister of all National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Chief Ministers. Although the NPP has no MPs in the Lok Sabha, Meghalaya’s Rajya Sabha MP is from the party.
Praising the NDA for its performance, Sangma said that it is not easy for any government to win a third term.
“But the fact the NDA has managed to do that is in itself a big thing and I’m sure economic and development agendas that were started in the first and second government will continue and we will see many of these economic agendas helping the people of the North East,” said Sangma.
