SHILLONG: Leader of state All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) Mukul Sangma refuted all claims of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Putting all speculations to rest and calling such claims mere rumours, the former Chief Minister on Friday denied meeting any leaders of the Meghalaya BJP and expressed concerns that not a single political party in the state has been able to unify the people of Meghalaya.
“My primary concern is the well-being of my people. If Meghalaya can become a state where everybody has a sense of well-being, prosperity and peace, we can contribute towards nation building. But sadly, I don’t see any political achieving that. So, I am concerned and there is a lot of pressure upon me,” he said, adding that there is a need to develop a sense of “oneness” among the people of the state.
In a responsive statement against a recent claim by state BJP President Ernest Mawrie that Sangma was denied entry into the BJP by the party senior leaders in Delhi, he told the press, “Has he (Ernest Mawrie) or Dr. Mukul met any of them? Please direct your questions to them. It seems their politics revolves around my name, but I’m not the one to ask.”
Earlier in April, BJP leader and cabinet minister Alexander Laloo Hek had claimed to have met the AITC leader and party’s state president Charles Pyngrope over a cup of tea. Hek had admitted that there was an informal discussion about them joining the Saffron party but nothing was finalised as the Trinamool leaders couldn’t confirm. Sangma, however, had denied all the claims saying that it is only natural for political parties to strategise such moves.
