SHILLONG : Meghalaya Chief Minister and NPP national president Conrad K Sangma has dismissed reports that a sizable number of NPP MLAs are considering joining the BJP, describing the reports as “mere speculations and imaginations.”
Sangma said there was no reason for concern over the latest political developments and maintained that the NPP-led MDA-II government remains stable.
The Chief Minister also confirmed that the NPP would hold a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday evening, but said the meeting was part of the party’s routine discussions and not linked to any unusual development.
“We as legislators always meet very often where we ensure that we try to clarify issues that are there in terms of governance and if there are any issues that the MLAs have,” Sangma said.
He said meetings of NPP legislators were a normal process to discuss governance-related matters and concerns raised by MLAs.
Asked whether he was concerned about the recent political developments, Sangma said there were “no major concerns or issues” and described the reports about NPP MLAs potentially joining the BJP as speculation.
“Let me put it to rest that these are nothing but speculations and these are nothing but imaginations from certain sections,” he said.
Sangma also sought to reassure NPP legislators, coalition partners and the public that there was no such move being considered.
On the stability of the NPP-led MDA-II government, the Chief Minister said it was “absolutely” stable.
He pointed out that the NPP has 33 MLAs and said the party’s legislators remain intact, while the coalition partners continue to support the government.
“The overall composition must have changed between the partners but the strength of the MDA remains the same and the commitment that is there from the different partners remains the same,” Sangma said.
Acknowledging that there have been issues between two coalition partners, Sangma described them as internal matters of the respective parties and said these had not affected the overall political equation or stability of the MDA-II government.
“There have been issues between two coalition partners which are internal matters of the two parties but that has not in any way affected the overall equation or the stability of the MDA-II government,” he said.