Blaming the National People’s Party for disrupting the rally plans, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the NPP was scared of the popularity of PM Modi and Amit Shah, and was stunned by the huge turnout at the election programs of the Union Home Minister.
NPP supremo and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on the other hand, insisted that neither he nor his party had any role in denying permission for the Prime Minister’s rally.
stadium brawl
The NPP and the BJP have been engaged in a public war of words ever since both the parties decided to go solo and fight for the 60-member assembly on their own. From 2018 to January 2023, the BJP was a junior partner in the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
Named after the father of the former CM and Conrad Sangma, the much-awaited PA Sangma Stadium was built at a cost of Rs 127 crore and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister on December 16, 2022. The football ground is the largest pre-engineered one in the country. Composite stadium and the first natural ground of international standards in the state.
BJP’s state unit president Ernest Mowry told a national daily that the stadium was funded by the BJP-led central government. “Imagine denying permission to the prime minister of the country. reprehensible. It is a great disgrace,” Mowry was quoted as saying.
The Sports Department has informed the West Garo Hills district authorities that permission cannot be granted for the Prime Minister’s rally there as construction debris could pose a security concern.
When News18 reached out to District Election Officer Swapnil Tembe, he said, “The stadium is not under the control of the district administration. It is still under construction, and hence the application was forwarded by the concerned Returning Officer to the Sports Department in Shillong. He told that since the construction work is going on, it would not be appropriate to host such a big gathering. Construction material is still in operation and may pose safety concerns. Therefore, the alternate site of allotgre Cricket The stadium is being considered.”
A report in the Indian Express stated that the stadium was at the center of a controversy in January as well. On a state visit, MoS (Minority Affairs) John Barla accused the NPP government of “not giving credit” to the Center for funding.
Mowry said it was sad that “it was not mentioned in the campus or any part of the campus that the project was funded by the Center under PM Modi. It only names Chief Minister Konrad Sangma, his Sister Agatha’s name and brother James’s name are everywhere.Agatha is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Tura, while James is seeking re-election from the Dadengre constituency.
BJP’s version
There is a wave of PM Modi in Meghalaya. A crowd gathered in support of Amit Shah in Tura. There is a fear among the rivals that if the PM comes to Tura then what will be its effect. This stadium was inaugurated on 16 December and now suddenly it has been declared unfit? It’s hard to understand. “Nobody can stop people from meeting the PM,” said Rituraj Sinha, national secretary of Meghalaya and co-in-charge of the BJP.
Speaking to a Meghalaya-based publication, Sinha claimed that between 1,500 and 2,000 turned up at the chief minister’s and former chief minister’s rallies, while 10,000 to 15,000 people turned up at BJP rallies to hear Amit Shah speak.
All the huge gatherings were seen in Rangaskona, North Tura and South Tura, the home constituency of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, or in remote areas like Dalu and Baghmara, he said.
Sinha further said that the BJP’s opponents were so taken aback by the turnout at these rallies that when the party applied for permission for the Prime Minister’s rally at Tura’s PA Sangma Stadium, permission was denied.
CM Sangma’s version
In a statement issued in Shillong, the chief minister said the allegations leveled by the BJP were false as the rallies were permitted by the government. Election The commission and the district administration are now a part of it.
“All permissions come from the Election Commission of India. So nothing can be said from NPP or my side. It is completely wrong to drag our names in this. Sangma said, I was not even given permission for many of my rallies.
He said that such things happen during elections but BJP has made it a big issue. “The stadium has two parts. The first part includes the football stadium, which was inaugurated. The second part, which has an indoor stadium and a swimming pool, is not ready and we have made it clear.”
Sangma also said that the denial of permission could likely be due to the huge crowd drawn by the prime minister.
He said, ‘It is true that when PM Modi does programs, the crowd is huge. So, I think the district administration must have felt that since it is a natural turf, and if too many people come, it will damage the natural turf and there is no parking facility.”
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