Need to change the reckless driver: Congress to MDA partners

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 18, 2021

The opposition Congress on Wednesday decided to write to the coalition partners of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government on the need to change the present leadership following the recent law and order breakdown.

“We will be writing to the leaders of all the political parties who are in the government to put our heads together and look at how we can save the state, the interest of the people and how we can best serve the people and that can happen only when there is course correction,” Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma told reporters after chairing a CLP meeting here.

The Congress Legislature Party had discussed at length the prevailing situation arising due to the alleged fake encounter that led to the killing of the former Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew in his residence at Mawlai-Kynton Massar on August 13.

Mukul also asserted the need to ensure there is a new dispensation who will be vested with the responsibility of governance citing that the state is not safe in the hands of the present leadership.

If the Congress would meet the Governor requesting his intervention to dismiss the incumbent government, he said dismissing a government is not the ultimate solution.

Referring the manner in which the entire situation was handled by the Conrad K Sangma-led government to a “reckless driver”,  Mukul said, “Would you like to sit when somebody is driving and he is not listening to you and your palpitation is growing up – so you need to change the driver and save the state not for the interest of Mukul Sangma or members of the CLP but in the larger interest of the people of the state as the interest of the state and the people should supersede everything else.”

“What happens if the state sinks, we all sink. It is my state, it is your state, it is our state, we have to protect it. We cannot allow the state to sink because then we all will sink.,” he said.

According to him, the government of the day has compromised the interest of the state by shifting their priorities.

Asked, the Leader of Opposition said, “The state has already slip back from the normalcy and peace that has been restored. Everybody is seeing it. The people in the government also are seeing it. You have to ask the chief minister what is happening, what is the magnitude of the problem in respect of the situation revolves around the question of normalcy and peace…”

“I have said earlier and spoken to the people of the state about the problems that is already there. I know it and chief minister should be knowing more than me as he has the command over all the authorities…even if after knowing all these things and he is not acting for correcting things that means his priority is not there, his concern is not there, I have to start asking question whether he has the interest to serve the state or not or is he engaging in something else by using the position that he holds as chief minister. What is the priority if there are so many challenging issues which needs to be attended to and the government refuses to attend to,” he added.

On whether the Congress is sending feelers to the MDA partners, the former chief minster said that the Congress want to do it transparently and that no hide and seek.

“Is it not necessary for the political parties to come together and discuss under the present circumstances? if they say no it is not necessary it is up to them but we feel that we should reach out we feel that good sense should prevail because at the end of the day they also have the sense of responsibility. We are all responsible leaders so I am sure it will not fall on deaf ears and that all their sensory nerves will be working, I am sure,” he said.

Meanwhile, the CLP also appealed to all citizens to contribute in their respective capacities for restoring peace and normalcy in the state capital.

“The restoration which is an offshoot of a collective hard work must be sustained. Therefore, sustaining it in the best interest of the future generation should be our responsibility. Just because the government has messed up we should not allow the state to slip back,” he opined.