Meghalaya CM slams Opposition for “creating” confusion over selection of MDA candidate for RS polls
Shillong, March 08:
Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma has accused the Congress of trying to create confusion over the selection of NPP State president, Dr. W.R. Kharlukhi as the consensus candidate of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
"The Congress is trying to create this confusion since it does not have its own candidature. It is a sad to see that the Congress is looking into another party to find the candidature. It clearly reflects the kind of mindset and current status of the Congress. It is very sad that the Congress could not find its own person," Sangma told reporters here on Saturday.
It may be mentioned that senior Congress leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh had stated that the Congress is ready to support any consensus candidate of the MDA on the condition that it should not be from the NPP.
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"The people of the State have lost their faith on the NPP especially after Tura MP, Agatha K Sangma supported the CAB (now the CAA) in the Parliament. We will support if the consensus candidate of the MDA is from the regional forces," Ampareen told a group of reporters yesterday.
On the question that UDP is very keen to field Dr Jemino Mawthoh for the Rajya MP election, Meghalaya Chief Minister said that there were multiple discussions that took place at different levels before arriving at a decision to field Dr Kharlukhi as the consensus candidate.
"He (Dr. Jemino Mawthoh) was also present in those meetings to discuss on the candidature of Dr Kharlukhi. These are rumours which are being spread by the opposition. There is no any kind of seriousness in it. The UDP is firm and the MDA as a whole is firm in the candidature of Dr Kharlukhi," Sangma asserted.
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To a question that the PDF, which is major ally of the MDA, is not happy with the selection of Dr Kharlukhi, he said that the PDF leaders were part and parcel of the all the meetings that took place to discuss the issue and they were present when the candidature of Dr Kharlukhi was announced.
"These are only rumours which have been floated around. There is no truth in any of these rumours. We are very firm in our decision and all the coalition partners are firm on the candidature of Dr Kharlukhi," he maintained.
On the question that majority of the coalition partners have lost faith in the NPP particularly after Agatha K Sangma's decision to support the CAB (now CAA) in the Parliament, he said that if they have lost faith they would not be part of the coalition. "If they are part of the coalition, it meant they have faith in the coalition and faith in the NPP and in the leadership overall," Sangma said.
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He said that issues like these had been there and had been discussed and, "they had thrashed this issue out and ultimately we came out with the consensus."
"It is very important to note that we have always encouraged healthy discussion within the MDA. The NPP has never tried to bulldoze on any kind of decision. It is for this reason we took almost for about a week in consultation. This decision of the candidature of Dr Kharlukhi was taken after a week of consultation we took everybody points including PDF and Dr. Jemino Mawthoh," Meghalaya Chief Minister added.
