Shillong, Feb 6: Congress leader and former legislator from Mylliem, Ronnie V Lyngdoh on Wednesday said that the people should not be fooled by regional political parties because they are working together with the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Lyngoh who was the minister during the Congress-led government filed his nomination papers on Wednesday from Mylliem for the February 27 polls to the KHADC.

Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh said it is Congress party which has ensured the existence of the autonomous district councils (ADCs) to preserve and protect the identity and culture of the indigenous people and he appealed to the people to support the Congress.

Challenging the regional parties to prove that they are really against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Lyngdoh said, “Tell the ministers of the regional parties to pull out of this (MDA) government which has 2 BJP MLAs, if they really love the people.”

According to him, the BJP through the citizenship bill want to fullfill its hidden agenda of “one nation, one religion”.

He said the regional parties are also part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) while the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) is also an ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

Lyngdoh also questioned the regional parties’ failure to follow the footstep of the AGP, which following the passing of the CAB, had immediately snap ties with the NDA to show that they are for the interest of the people of Assam.

Expressing confidence that the Congress will come bounce back to power after the ADC polls, he said, “Stop giving lip service, the people are not fools and they will give full support to the Congress to lead the new executive committee in the district council.”

Accusing the MDA government of fooling the people by handing over the power to the ADCs to implement the building byelaws, Lyngdoh however said, ” what are they talking about when this decision had already been taken by the then Congress-led government since 2017. This decision was taken during a tripartite meeting held between the government, ADCs and traditional heads on December 14, 2017. The question that arises is, what made the present government not to implement the decision (for the past one year),” he said.

To a question, Lyngdoh said that the government then had asked the district councils to submit their own building byelaws for examination keeping in mind that Meghalaya falls under seismic zone-V.

The former legislator will be contesting against PDF sitting Mylliem MDC Teilinia Thangkhiew, who also got the full backing of the sitting legislator, Hamletson Dohling.

Lyngdoh however said the sitting MLA and MDC may be united but not the people of the constituency adding that people of Mylliem are wise and they know which party can serve them well.

He exuded confidence of winning the Mylliem seat.