Shillong, Nov 28: The National People’s Party (NPP) today alleged that Mukul Sangma’s grapes have turned sour as he failed to implement ‘people-friendly’ schemes during his tenure as Chief Minister.
“The story talks of a fox that tries to eat grapes from a vine but cannot reach them and then blames the grapes to be sour. The grapes here are simply the fruits of the work of the MDA government which it has done for the people of the state”, said NPP spokesperson and Govt Chief Whip Marcuise Marak during a press conference here, while responding to allegations labelled by leader of opposition Mukul Sangma.
“It is amusing to note Mukul’s understanding of politics…as chief minister, he failed to remove his own home minister HDR Lyngdoh, despite knowing the fact that one of his properties, Marvelene’s Inn, was involved in a prostitution racket”, said Marak, while pointing that there was a huge outcry from civil society organisations due to the sexual molestation of a minor girl in HDR Lyngdoh’s property but Mukul went on record that as far as the removal of HDR Lyngdoh is concerned, “the law doesn’t demand so.”
Accusing Mukul of making series of personal attacks on the government, Marak said, “Mukul had transferred the investigating officer of the Marvelene’s Inn case to compromise and derail the investigation. The LO instead of understanding morality and the grievous nature of crime that was committed by his own minister, still continues to play his own political game to try and gain petty political mileage.”
Terming Mukul as an architect of erecting facades, Marak said, “During his Chief Ministership, he had announced an initiative known as the ‘24×7 Power for All.’ While it sounds fancy as a name, the children of our state were still forced to read under the light of candles. Households were still suffering in darkness. And all that Mukul Sangma did was use his mastery of words to smoothly blindfold the people into believing that work was being done”.
Marak further said that creating hope in the hearts of people and then quashing it prematurely is one of the worst things a politician can do and Mukul precisely did that. “The MDA government, in two years, has electrified five times the number of villages that Mukul’s government ever did. Perhaps he must learn what it means to fulfil hopes of the people”.
On Mukul allegation on Saubhagya scheme of the Power Department, Marak said, “It is again evident that he experiences regret that his government could not do what the MDA government has completed so far. In fact, we know that due approvals and procedures have been followed as per law with regards to tendering and awarding of contracts etc. It is sad that our honourable Chief Minister actually had to school the leader of opposition to understand how central schemes work, because clearly, he lacks that understanding.”
Marak also said that Mukul’s accusation that this is a ‘modus operandi with matching share’ is an assumption arising from years of twisted experiences. “It is a reaction out of fear of being politically irrelevant, whether in Delhi or here in Meghalaya. We see this as a part of the Congress’s fading legacy and with a leader like him at the helm of affairs, that day is not too far when we will see the Congress fading into the pages of history”, Marak added.
