KHADC chief Pyniaid Sing Syiem has repeated his barb that the Voice of the People Party (VPP) is being supported by the West Bengal-based Trinamool Congress and is not as local as it claims to be.
Syiem lost the Mawryngkneng Assembly seat to the VPP’s Heaving Stone Kharpran in the state election earlier this year, only a little more than a year after Syiem won the constituency by-election on a National People’s Party (NPP) ticket.
For that dramatic reversal of fortune, Syiem blames the support of the TMC for Kharpran, despite the fact that the TMC barely made a dent in Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills.
“The TMC helped the VPP by directing all its supporters and others to support the VPP candidate and vice versa was the case for the TMC’s victories in other constituencies where the VPP supported the TMC,” Syiem claimed today. “Looking at all these facts and developments, it is evident that the VPP is not a party from the Khasi region and its symbol ‘prah’ (winnower) is not of the Khasi but a prah from West Bengal. Judging by the post-mortem of the last election, we can say that the TMC is masquerading as the VPP in Khasi Hills.”
Despite being the biggest party in the Assembly, Syiem’s NPP was soundly defeated almost everywhere in Khasi Hills. That might be giving him something to worry about as the KHADC elections will be held next year and the VPP is hoping to make a splash in its first council polls and has been projecting itself as the defender of the Khasi-Jaiñtia community while the NPP is led chiefly by Garo politicians.
Syiem defended his short time as MLA, saying that much development work had begun during his tenure, with the 65 villages in the constituency lacking water supply, proper roads, healthcare, etc.
“In just a span of one year we brought water project schemes worth more than Rs 100 crore to Mawryngkneng and villages that have suffered for more than 15 years because of water problems saw their troubles addressed in a short span of time,” Syiem claimed. “Katcha roads were black-topped during our term and healthcare facilities were upgraded.”
He further took a dig at VPP leader Ardent M Basaiawmoit, raking up issues going back years with regards to how Basaiawmoit had allegedly worked with the then Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma against the interests of the common man with regards to building bylaws.
