GUWAHATI: A war of words has broken out between allies BJP and National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya over alleged misappropriation of Central funds.
The fight has come to such a pass that the BJP threatened to pull out of the NPP-led ruling alliance. The BJP, a constituent of the ruling alliance, has two MLAs and one of them is a minister.
BJP alleged that funds, allocated to Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council by the Centre under Special Assistant Grant for the development of under-developed areas, had been misappropriated in the names of ghost bridges, footpaths and repair works of official buildings and guest houses. The NPP rules both the councils.
Demanding a CBI probe in the matter, BJP state president Ernest Mawrie said they would not tolerate any “corrupt practices”.
“We will raise the matter with the state government. If it fails to take cognisance of it, we will be left with no choice but to pull out our support,” Mawrie threatened.
The NPP dared the BJP to withdraw from the coalition. NPP state unit president WR Kharlukhi said the BJP appeared headed towards a “tin-pot dictatorship”.
“If he (Mawrie) is so convinced that we are corrupt, why don’t they pull out of the alliance? They could have discussed the matter within the alliance instead of going to the media,” he said. Meghalaya is the second state in the Northeast where the relationship between the two parties has soured.
In June, all four NPP MLAs in Manipur had pulled out of the BJP-led government. They had returned to the government when the party’s central leadership, including Amit Shah, assured them that their grievances would be addressed.