Shillong, June 21: Congress chief Vincent Pala on Wednesday said his party has absolutely no role in toppling the United Democratic Party-led executive committee in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).

According to him, the EC was toppled due to the fight between the National People’s Party (NPP) and the UDP.

“We have no role in toppling the UDP-led EC in the KHADC. To be frank, it was a fight between the NPP and the UDP,” Pala told reporters after chairing a meeting with the 6 MDCs of the party.

“When the NPP called our leader PN Syiem, he told me and then we had a thorough discussion and also contacted the party high command (before taking a decision on the matter),” he informed.

The Congress has extended support to the National People’s Party (NPP) to form the new Khasi Hills Democratic Front (KHDF)-led EC in the KHADC.

Pala also said that the decision was taken to ensure that the party puts forth its views on the amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India. “By entering the Council, we can take a resolution on how we can amend the Sixth Schedule and how we can protect our people. We don’t get anything by joining but at least we get to put forth our views on the amendment,” he added.

He further alleged that the BJP is trying to dilute the Sixth Schedule and said, “Because the base of the people of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills, especially the Hill areas, all the 11 district councils will be on the Sixth Schedule so the BJP is trying to dilute the Sixth Schedule. They introduced the Bill in 2019 on February 6, 2019 in Rajya Sabha and the Committee on Home Affairs have already recommended it on March 5, 2020 to the government. So, now the government is going to take up Bill.”

Pala said the Centre would require a resolution from the Council and the State before taking up the amendment adding “So within 5-6 months, we can adopt a resolution especially for election of the headmen, for the rights of people in the land tenure system – it is very important for us to protect and promote our people.”

When asked, the MPCC chief said that the UDP had never approached the party for support. “We have worked with the UDP in the past but they have not called us for support. We have no problem working with the UDP but we have problems only with the BJP,” he added.

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