Shillong, Feb 21: National People’s Party (NPP) national vice president Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday slammed the “double standard” of the MDA coalition partners towards the border issue and asked the people of the state not to trust them as they are not serious about the boundary solution.

His statement came as a reaction to the promises made by the MDA partners in their respective manifestos that they will review the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Assam government with regards to the six of the twelve areas of difference.

Tynsong told reporters that he was shocked to see such a promise being made by the coalition partners because “every step taken we had consulted each and every partner in the Cabinet”.

He also reminded that an all-party meeting was also convened by the NPP-led state government before signing the MoU on March 29, last year. The government had also held meetings with the autonomous district councils and members of the NGOs.

“We had said these are the arrangements made before we go to Delhi for signing of the MoU. It was very transparent,” he added.

Terming the attitude of the coalition partners as “double standard”, Tynsong said, “But now, I really don’t know why UDP in their manifesto had stated they wanted to scrap the MoU. They are playing with a double standard way of thinking, way of taking decisions but I am very sure that people understand all this. It seems that they are not clear.”

Stating that other parties like the AITC had also maintained that they too will scrap the MoU, the NPP leader however said, “These political parties, who wanted the MoU to be scrapped, means that they don’t want a solution to this pending issue of more than 50 years. They want to go back to ‘status quo – status quo – status quo’.”

“Therefore, people of the state should not trust these political parties at all because they are not at all serious about the boundary solution,” he concluded.