Meghalaya assembly elections are just a month away. Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) President Konrad Sangma in an exclusive conversation with News18 taunted the Trinamool Congress as an “outsider” and said that its candidates are in touch with other political parties. Once again joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Edited excerpts:
How are you feeling?
You know I’ve always thought of choice as difficult, choice is always difficult. As a political worker and leader of a party this should be kept in mind. So while the overall sentiment is very positive, we have to work hard. We’re working hard, we’re not undermining anybody. With the work we have done and the hard work we are still doing, I am sure that the people of Meghalaya will give us another chance.
Who are you fighting: BJP, TMC, Congress or UDP? Your opposition says that you will join hands with BJP. Is it just for show?
The fact is we are fighting now and will take help of BJP later..let’s say yes, we were in alliance and are fighting now. Let’s take it this way that contesting elections and forming a government are two different chapters. Elections are fought on ideology, you fight on what you believe in, you go to the people, you show them your vision, and you wait for the people to vote. We have seen fractured mandate in the past, when it comes to this, it is clear that the ideology you are projecting is not being fully accepted by the masses. Then as politicians, we have to figure out what is the best option we can give to the people. So once the result is out, we will think about this second chapter.
We are a small state, the fight is more on individuals. We are not fighting with any one political party, in some places we are fighting with BJP, and in some we are fighting with TMC, UDP. The fight in every constituency is between the NPP and the others.
Is it a friendly fight with BJP?
There is no question of friendly fight with BJP. There are some constituencies where the contest is only between BJP and NPP. This is not a friendly fight at all.
What is your view on TMC? Why did you say they are outsiders? Mukul Sangma is from Meghalaya.
I have said that he is an outsider because he said the same thing about the BJP in Bengal. By that logic TMC is an outsider party. I have applied the same logic to Meghalaya. NPP is a party of Meghalaya and we are running a coalition government.
Mukul Sangma is from Meghalaya.
So BJP was also the leader of Bengal, but the party is obviously an outside party. I am emphasizing again that I have used the same point. People who joined TMC have already started leaving TMC. Two MLAs joined NPP, one joined BJP and the other joined UDP. TMC started with 12 but now they are down to 5 so already people are leaving because they have realized that they cannot go to people with TMC’s election symbol. Now the people who are left are also in contact with the people of other political parties. They have already talked to other political parties and made arrangements in case they win.
Do you mean to say that they are in touch with you and the BJP?
I am not saying that they are in touch with me or BJP. This statement is doing the rounds in the market. Come here and ask anyone, you will get an idea.
Mukul Sangma has shown that he has full faith in absolute majority…
He must show it, otherwise from where will he instill confidence in his workers? We can show anything but doing something on the ground is a different thing. The fact is that the opposition at the grassroots level is extremely divided. The Congress which won 21 seats is now at zero. TMC had 12 MLAs and now it has 5 MLAs left. These are clear indications that the opposition is unable to keep its flock together. There is division and the public is watching all this. Why would people vote for him? They will not be able to come together and form the government. This is the feeling of people.
Is a fractured opposition giving you an edge?
It definitely gives us an edge, but it does not mean that we will sit with him. Elections are always tough and we are working hard. It definitely gives us an edge.
TMC said- the border agreement will be cancelled; Do you think the Mukroh incident is an issue?
It is very unfortunate that Dr. Mukul Sangma and TMC want to nullify the border agreement as they had the opportunity to do so for so many years; Many incidents keep happening, and they did nothing. Due to lack of clarity, the people living there are under a lot of tension. The fact that they want to abrogate clearly shows that TMC is not interested in resolving the border issue.
TMC said that you signed the MoU in a hurry.
We started this work more than a year ago, and we visited more than 27 times. What were they doing all these years? Based on the opinion and wishes of the people, we held a large number of public hearings, whose decisions have been taken. TMC has not done its homework properly, it is clear. The incident of Mukroh was unfortunate, it was unprovoked. We clearly asked the Assam government to take steps. These situations are complex and complicated. These problems happened because of the border dispute. We will solve the problem by taking people into confidence.
Is the choice tough this time?
I am clear about my stand, we will fight like it is our first election. We may have done a lot of work and lived up to the expectations of the people, but we will take this election very seriously. We can never take elections easy.
What kind of government will it be: one with a clear majority or one supported by the BJP?
We are sending a clear majority government of NPP, but we are not claiming because this has not happened for the last 50 years. This happened for the first time in 1972. There was no single party government for a long time. If no one party gets majority, we will consider all the options. We are sure that we will do better than last time.
Why would people vote for Conrad Sangma?
We have done so much work in the last 5 years that says it all. If I start referencing those works it will not end. We have given development and stability.
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