Congress counters NPP claim

Shillong, Feb 10: The Congress in Meghalaya on Saturday rejected the claim of tiol People’s Party (NPP) State president Dr Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi that the party will go alone after the polls.

While rebuffing the argument, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) working president Vincent H Pala said that Dr Kharlukhi was befooling the people of the State.

 “While Kharlukhi said that the NPP will not have any post-poll alliance with the BJP or any other parties, their tiol president Conrad Sangma says that he does not rule out any post-poll alliance with BJP or other parties,” Pala said. According to the MPCC working president, Conrad said this during an interview to the media.

“This proves either Kharlukhi is lying or he and the tiol president are not on the same page and there are differences within themselves,” Pala said.

He also said while Kharlukhi is going overboard in denying that the NPP does not have political nexus with the BJP, he does not have an answer as to why the NPP sided with the BJP in Manipur and helped them form the government when they have ideological differences.

The MPCC statement goes on to say that while the State president of the NPP said that the party would prefer Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the country’s Prime Minister, Conrad praises rendra Modi led-NDA government, terming it “excellent”.

The Meghalaya Congress stated that either Dr Kharlukhi had differences of opinion with his tiol president or he was clearly trying to hoodwink the people of Meghalaya with an eye on electoral gains by making people believe that the NPP was not hand in glove with the BJP.

Pala also said the Congress maintains that the people of Meghalaya are politically conscious and will not like to see their State handed out on a platter to commul forces and opportunistic parties like the NPP.