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Guwahati, February 4 (IANS) Although the BJP has teamed up for the second time with the Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP) government in Meghalaya, many leaders including the top brass of BJP termed Sangma the most corrupt Chief Minister in the country in the run-up to state polls in February last year.
The former BJP president in Meghalaya Ernest Mawrie had asserted that the departments like power and others where most of the corruption happened over the last five years were either with the NPP or their alliance partner, the UDP.
“Through a lot of RTI applications we filed in the last year or so, we have seen how rampant corruption was going on in Meghalaya under the current regime. We have all the records,” he claimed.
According to Mawrie, the corruption issues of Conrad Sangma were discussed with the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other top BJP leaders.
Prior to the election in Meghalaya, the BJP was very confident about a good show in the hill state. Mawrie had also predicted that the BJP would cross the second digit this time.
However, the election results were rather disappointing for the saffron party, as it could secure only two seats in the 60-member assembly constituency.
In 2018, the BJP also won two seats, and their vote percentage was 9.60 percent, which further deteriorated this year and dropped to 9.30 percent. A top local BJP leader said that as the party fought all seats in Meghalaya for the first time, the vote percentage showed a minor dip. The BJP was hoping big in the Garo Hills region of the state, and in internal surveys, the party was projected to win at least 10 seats there.
Riding high on the expectation, the BJP top brass launched a sharp attack against Conrad Sangma, the NPP chief, with Amit Shah calling the Meghalaya Chief Minister the most corrupt in the entire country.
The Union Home Minister alleged that the money sent by the Centre for the welfare of the people of Meghalaya could not reach the beneficiaries as there was large-scale corruption in the state going on under Sangma. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took part in the high-voltage campaign in Meghalaya and took a swipe at the National People’s Party.
Soon after the poll results were announced, the BJP immediately tendered its support to the NPP to form another coalition government in Meghalaya.
The BJP's two candidates, Sanbor Shullai and A. L. Hek, won this time in the Meghalaya election. Shullai was a minister in the previous Meghalaya coalition government, and Hek has been made a minister by the BJP this time. According to political observers, both Shullai and Hek have the ability to pull off a win irrespective of the party symbol, and therefore, the two wins came more from individual acceptance of the two leaders among the voters.
Though the BJP is in power by making themselves a part of the coalition government in Meghalaya, the acceptance of the saffron party among the Christian community in the hill state still remains a big question.
Two factors have been playing against the BJP in Meghalaya -- first, the Hindutva politics; and second, the lack of a prominent and strong local leader around whom a narrative can be formed.
Unless the BJP finds a solution to at least one issue among the above two, it is hard for the saffron camp to penetrate Meghalaya. The political observers argued that for these two factors, the BJP joined the NPP-led coalition government in Meghalaya for the second time despite Conrad Sangma was being termed the most corrupt chief minister by Amit Shah,
