TURA, Feb 6: Former MLA and one of the aspirants for party ticket from North Tura, Ismail Marak, has stated that BJP state president Ernest Mawrie asked him for Rs 10 lakh after he filed for the party ticket.
Ismail Marak was denied the ticket which had gone to Adamkid A Sangma for North Tura.
“I have been with the BJP for more than 2 years and have applied for the North Tura ticket. But after I applied, the BJP president asked me to give him Rs 10 lakh. When I asked why, he said it was a kind of loan. I decided not to give him the money since I needed it to contest the elections. But soon after, the candidates list was announced and my name did not figure in it. Probably because I could not give him (Mawrie) the money he demanded?” said Ismail Marak in a glaring and open statement before mediapersons at his Chenik resort in Asanang, near Rongram, on Friday.
Ismail Marak is also an Ex-MDC of Asanang constituency in GHADC.
He is the second BJP leader to cast accusations of corruption on the state BJP leadership.
Another former BJP candidate is Michael Kharsyntiew from Shillong who contested for Umsning in 2018. Kharsyntiew has claimed that the previous BJP president of Meghalaya Shibun Lyngdoh and general secretary Bashailang Khongwir were given ten thousand rupees each before distribution of tickets.
“I am definitely sure other ticket aspirants like me have also been asked to give Rs 10 lakh but they have not come out in the open so far. BJP tickets were up for sale and the price was Rs 10 lakh,” accused Ismail Marak.
Ismail Marak joined the Trinamool Congress with his supporters on Sunday and says the Meghalaya BJP no longer has the moral right to talk about corruption when its leaders are neck deep in it.
He says the condition of BJP is in critical condition in Meghalaya, especially Garo Hills after recent allocation of tickets.
The reason for the party’s condition, he says, is because the leadership has transferred candidates from their original strongholds in their respective constituencies to new places which will eventually lead to defeat at the hands of their opponents.
Senior BJP leader Bakul Hajong who applied for Mahendraganj ticket was given Rajabala seat which is a muslim dominated constituency. Bakul came second in the last assembly elections from Ampati where he was defeated by Mukul Sangma.
Another senior BJP leader and Ex- Dadenggre MLA Edmund K Sangma who had prepared a base in Raksamgre, where he came second position last election, was asked to apply in North Tura. But when ticket distribution was done he was given Phulbari and North Tura was allotted to Adamkid A Sangma, a rebel Trinamool candidate.
Ismail Marak also claims that Assam BJP leaders Rituraj Sharma, Rupam Goswami and Deputy Speaker of Assam Assembly Dr. Numal Momin tried to force him to contest from Dadenggre with an assurance of Rs 1 Crore as funds. Ismail had been defeated by chief minister Conrad K Sangma’s elder brother James Pangsang K Sangma fromDadenggre in the last election and as such had rejected the offer since he had already made his field in North Tura.
