Shillong, Aug 22: The state BJP on Tuesday asked the ruling Congress not to throw the blame on the BJP for its failure to get the ban on coal mining in the state lifted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
“You (Congress) are to be blamed for this (ban on coal mining) and do not throw the blame to our party,” BJP state vice president, J.A. Lyngdoh said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.
“Why blame the BJP? Where is your Mining Policy and why it took (you) so long to frame rules on Mining Policy, or is it because you do not have your good will to do it or maybe you do not have confidence in consulting with all stakeholders,” the BJP asked.
The BJP vice president further reiterated that the BJP was committed to solve this problem once and for all if the party voted to power in 2018 and that also within a very short while.
The BJP statement came in reaction to the recent allegation made by the Congress that the BJP, which is ruling at the Centre, was playing politics and allegedly instrumental for delaying a favourable ruling by the NGT to lift the ban on coal mining in Meghalaya.
Congress leader and cabinet minister, Ronnie V Lyngdoh had alleged the BJP of being desperate to get power when it claimed that if it is elected to power in 2018, it would find a “comprehensive solution” for resolving the on-going coal mining ban within a span of just 6-8 months.
“It clearly implies that they are instrumental in playing politics with the lives of thousands of our people just for their selfish political interest,” he had stated.
Meanwhile, the BJP also denied the allegations that the recent meeting with religious leaders was to masquerade its hidden agenda as alleged by the Congress.
The vice president said that the Congress seemed to be starved of issues to fight the BJP.
“Oppositions have seized the meeting-with-religious-leaders as a god-send chance to consolidate support with the desperateness of a drowning man in the sea clutching at the floating straw, they have gripped the Religious issues for their political survival,” he said.
According to him, the estimation being raised by the Congress that the BJP is interfering with provision of the Constitution of India is evidently surcharged with politics, more than any grave concern for human rights or democratic conventions.
Asking Ronnie to clarify from Church leaders, he said, “The meeting had nothing to do with electioneering for 2018. There were correctly no hidden agendas in the meeting. The only agenda of the BJP is development and a corruption-free Government in Meghalaya which the Congress fears to tread.”
Asking the ruling Congress not to underestimate the BJP, he said, “You (Congress) will be surprised to see what we will do in this general election. It is for sure that there will be a BJP-led government in 2018. The BJP’s ideology is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.”