Shillong, Feb 21: The National People’s Party (NPP) on Wednesday slammed Mahila Congress  chief, Sushmita Dev for calling NPP national president Conrad K. Sangma a “puppet of the BJP and RSS.”

“Her (Dev) statement tantamount to a slap in the face to all people of Meghalaya that she can quantify our religious beliefs to nothing more than election gimmicks. Such statements are no better than statements by anti-secular elements,” NPP state president WR Kharlukhi said in a statement issued here.

Dev had earlier termed Conrad a “puppet of the BJP and RSS” and that he (Conrad) should first go to his nearest Church, put his hand on the Bible and swear that he will not tie up with the BJP at any level.

Reacting to this, Kharlukhi said, “how she (Dev) could violate the sanctity of our most holy book and religious institution for nothing more than political mileage clearly shows the lack of ambition of the Congress to work towards the important issues that concerns the State. The fact that she or the Congress party refused to retract the statement or apologise for, can only be viewed as an insult to our religious beliefs as well as our way of life.”

Stating that the NPP is a party with its own ideology, Kharlukhi said that the vision of the party and its mission is to unite the Northeast and to look after the welfare of the indigenous tribals.

“To state that the NPP is working with the BJP is a clear indication of a lack of focus on behalf of certain parties with regards to recognizing important issues concerning the State,” he added.

The NPP state chief further stated that in a multi-party political system such as India, parties have to work together even if they are in opposition while adding, “but this does not mean that the NPP will follow suit with all policies of the Central government.”

He said that Conrad as Member of Parliament had also opposed Good Governance Day celebrated on Christmas day.