Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s recent claim that there was no development in Meghalaya in the last 45 years (before his government came to power) is a slap in the face for his late father, Purno A Sangma, the Congress Party said today.
Purno was a former Congressman and had served as Meghalaya CM from 1988 to 1990 under the party banner. He only left the Congress to form the Nationalist Congress Party in 1999.
Today, All India Congress Committee (AICC) media coordinators Bobbeeta Sharma and Mathew Antony questioned Conrad’s claims to have been the sole CM to bring development to Meghalaya.
“Does he mean to say that his father did not do anything for Meghalaya? Is that what he’s trying to say to the people of the state?” Sharma said.
He reminded Conrad that Meghalaya was given statehood during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi of the Congress.
“If today he is CM of Meghalaya and he is in a position to serve the people, it is due to the vision of the Congress Party that gave opportunity to the aspirations of the people of the state,” Sharma added.
Despite having the honour of serving the people, the Congress attacked Conrad for being “neck deep” in corruption along with his coalition allies.
The AICC members added that it was disgraceful for the NPP to give a ticket to an engineer (now retired) who was in charge when the new Assembly dome spectacularly collapsed while under construction last year. “That shows that instead of punishing the culprit, the MDA government is rewarding him. So it proves that they stand with corrupt people and are with corruption,” Sharma added.
The Congress, which was the largest party after the 2018 election but still saw itself excluded from the government and then haemorrhaged its legislators until it was left with zero MLAs in the outgoing Assembly, also took aim at some of the defectors.
Ampareen Lyngdoh, the incumbent East Shillong MLA, only joined the NPP because she hopes that the party will protect her from a legal case regarding the infamous education scam when she was a minister in the Congress-led government prior to 2018.
Dr Mukul Sangma, the former CM who quit for the Trinamool Congress in 2021, committed a blunder by joining the TMC, Sharma said, as the party is held to be an “outside” one and will thus not receive support by Meghalayans.
Antony expressed confidence that the Congress will return to power, saying that there is an anti-incumbency factor playing against the NPP and the party’s record on unemployment is poor.
