SHILLONG, MAR 13: Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh on Wednesday accused the All India Trinamool Congress (or TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having a “secret understanding” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Reacting to a recent statement made by AITC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma, Lyngdoh said that compared to West Bengal, which has 42 Lok Sabha seats, Meghalaya has only 2 seats.
“So if they (AITC) say we went ahead and declare (our candidates) in Meghalaya that is why TMC is not willing to work with us, why don’t they declare that they have come to an agreement for seat sharing in West Bengal. Now, they don’t want to work with the Congress. So we would like to question the TMC leaders have you got some understanding with the BJP. Is there a secret understanding between the TMC and the BJP to prevent consolidation of votes, people, who would like to see secular democratic country like India defeat BJP, which is communal, which is trying to polarise the people on so many issues?” he asked.
The leader of opposition added, “Now, let us put that question why doesn’t TMC, who is part of the INDIA Bloc come to an understanding and come to a seat sharing in West Bengal?.”
“If they (AITC) had done that in West Bengal perhaps we could have done it in Meghalaya too or is there some understanding between the BJP and TMC so that the opposition votes gets divided and benefits the BJP. How does it benefit the TMC by not working with the INDIA Bloc, with the Congress or is it to benefit the BJP to ensure that apparently appear that TMC and BJP do not have any understanding but facts state otherwise,” he said.
“Because now the BJP understands very clearly West Bengal has a sizeable number of minority votes. So if they come together all the minority votes will be consolidated in the parties belonging to the INDIA Bloc. So there is much more hidden behind this just to blame Meghalaya, which has only two seats and West Bengal has 42 seats,” Lyngdoh said while adding that “if 2 seats is so important to TMC and the 42 seats are not important I think it speaks volume of their double standards.”
Further, the CLP leader also observed, “…you can see other opposition leaders, you have CBI, ED, IT put behind them and they are arrested. But in West Bengal no such thing happened. So I am asking this question is there any secret understanding between the BJP and the TMC.”
“It is for the people to judge and defeat this party and vote parties that have come together to ensure that we have a vibrant democracy, we have freedom of press, freedom of the judiciary and people can worship as per their faith and as per their religion and uphold the constitution, which is very important,” he added.
