After friction in Manipur, the alliance between the BJP and the National People’s Party (NPP) seems to have hit turbulence in Meghalaya.
The BJP has threatened to pull out of the NPP-led, multi-party alliance in Meghalaya over alleged misappropriation of central funds allocated to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council. The NPP heads both the councils.
The BJP has two MLAs in Meghalaya and one of them, Alexander Laloo Hek is the Health and Family Welfare Minster.
The BJP’s State unit president Ernest Mawrie had a few days ago demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into “corrupt practices” in the two NPP-led councils. He said funds provided to the two councils under the Special Assistance Grant for transforming underdeveloped areas had been misused on “ghost bridges, footpaths” and repair works of official buildings and guesthouses.
“If the State government fails to take cognisance of the corrupt practices, we will be left with no choice but to pull out our support,” Mr. Mawrie said.
The NPP retaliated by daring the BJP to withdraw from the coalition.
“The BJP appears to be headed for a tin-pot dictatorship. If he (Mr. Mawrie) is so convinced that we are corrupt, they should pull out of the alliance. The matter could have been discussed within the alliance,” said NPP’s State unit president W.R. Kharlukhi.
The NPP has been one of the oldest allies of the BJP in the northeast. But the relationship between the two parties soured in Manipur in June after all four NPP legislators pulled out of the BJP-led government in the State there following differences with Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh.
The four returned to the government when the BJP’s central leadership, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, assured them that their grievances would be addressed.
