Shillong, Feb 1: The Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) on Friday made excuses over its inability to get the Inner Line Permit (ILP) implemented despite a promise made in the election manifesto, since the party has to “adjust with other coalition partners of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.”

“The HSPDP with just two members has to somehow adjust within the coalition, because the party is part of the MDA government. Had we secured majority, we would have happily implement the ILP without any excuse,” HSP legislator, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar told reporters.

The HSPDP is part of the MDA government led by the National People’s Party (NPP) and according to Tongkhar, this was the reason why the MDA partners are have to have a common minimum programme (CMP).

The MDA government formed by six political parties – NPP, UDP, HSPDP, BJP, PDF, NCP and Independents is yet to have the CMP till date.

Tongkhar however said that his party would pursue the demand for implementation of ILP system in the state especially after the NDA government at the Centre has made a move to implement the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants who wanted to settle in India from Bangladesh Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The HSPDP legislator also recalled that the demand to implement ILP was one of top priorities that the party has included in its election manifesto.

He also said that it is high time for the state government to consider the demand to implement the ILP system to tackle influx problem, adding that the HSPDP will continue to press its demand for implementation of ILP.

On the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Tongkhar who is the HSPDP legislator from Mawkyrwat said that his party had already sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi through its memorandum submitted on January 14, the need to exempt Bangladesh from the Bill.

“If the Centre refuses to scrap this Bill, we are of the opinion that Bangladesh should be exempted from it. There is a strong apprehension that if the Bill is implemented, crores of Bangladeshi nationals will try to sneak into Meghalaya, which shares a 443-km long border with Bangladesh,” Tongkhar observed.

Tongkhar stated that though the party has sought exclusion of Bangladesh, but no statement has been made or has it mentioned anywhere in the memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister that the HSPDP welcomed only immigrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan.