TURA, Feb 5: Mukul Sangma’s attempt to attack chief minister Conrad Sangma by accusing him of using racial words like “Bengali” have been countered by the NPP chief who has clarified that he has always said that the Trinamool Congress is a West Bengal based party and “Not” a Bengali party.

This week Mukul Sangma tried to draw a wedge between the NPP and a section of the community by stating that the chief minister was labelling TMC as Bengali and demanded an apology for the alleged racial slur.

“There is a vast difference between the word ‘Bengali’ and ‘Bengal’ party. I am not a racial person and have never said Trinamool is Bengali. All I said is that it is a Bengal based party which is true because their origin and base is in West Bengal. Where is the question of racial slur that he is asking me to apologize for?” the Meghalaya Chief Minister demanded to know on Saturday.

“I have never racially discriminated against anyone. The only thing I said was that TMC is a party based out of West Bengal and that is a fact. There is nothing wrong with that. The only other thing I said was that it is an outsider party based on the analogy of Mamata Banerjee who in the last Bengal elections termed all national and other parties out of the state who entered the state for the elections as outsiders,” clarified Conrad K Sangma.

The Meghalaya chief minister labelled the TMC as a party that is yet to form a base in the north east.

“Leaders from different parties are joining them, but their organizational structure is poor and it is a fact that I have stated,” added the chief minister.

Coalition dynamics proven by us

Even as the opposition Trinamool Congress has not ruled out a post poll alliance with the UDP to form a government in the eventuality of a hung assembly, chief minister Conrad K Sangma has termed such expectations as mere speculations at the time of campaign indicating no one can predict an election outcome.

But he had a word of encouragement for his own party by mentioning about the successful coalition that they ran as members of the MDA government for a full five year term.

“No one can predict the results but we are confident of a full majority and as far as coalitions, the NPP has proven it can form and run a successful coalition government in the state,” stated Conrad Sangma.