Shillong, Feb 23: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong has yet again dared the BJP to pull out of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government instead of coming up with baseless corruption allegations.
“Let your (BJP) action speak louder than your words by withdrawing support instead of criticizing the government which you are also part and parcel of,” Tynsong told reporters on Monday.
He was reacting to the BJP hitting out at Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for allegedly attempting to divide the party by stating that the majority of its leaders want the immediate removal of Ernest Mawrie as state president.
“My statement stands when I say, if you are not comfortable, why you don’t withdraw from the MDA. If you feel that the MDA is so corrupted then why are your minister and MLA still working with us?” he asked.
Tynsong said that the BJP state leadership continues to attack the MDA government with baseless allegations despite all issues having been resolved at the MDA coordination committee.
Asked if the MDA would consider dropping the BJP from the alliance, Tynsong however said so far, they have not taken any decision to drop the BJP as an alliance partner.
“Since they are our partners, the simplest way to do it is if you are not happy because we have so many alliance partners, just leave that should be the way, why should we pull them out. We do have a strong agreement amongst ourselves but if the state BJP unit keeps saying that MDA is a corrupted government, what I am trying to tell you is this, if they are so serious about the allegation made by them that MDA is so much corruption, why don’t you withdraw yourself from the MDA government, then people will say this is the only party which is really concern about the corruption,” he said.
The deputy chief minister further alleged that the BJP is making these allegations just to get political mileage ahead of the elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
Asking the saffron party not to fool the voters, he said, “On one hand you alleged the MDA government of being so corrupt while on the other hand your one of your MLAs is our minister and any decision taken, we did it collectively. Therefore, I am saying to the leadership of the BJP why don’t you act? I think action should speak louder than words then voters in Khasi or Garo Hills will say this is a real party who is concerned so much with the corruption by the MDA. I have already told you if you are concerned about allegations that MDA is so corrupt, why you don’t peacefully pull out from the MDA and by doing that you will get so many voters and you may even get a majority in the GHADC. Let them do that.”
Meanwhile, Tynsong informed that the ruling NPP would soon release the list of candidates for the GHADC polls.