National People’s Party (NPP) national chief and Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has underscored that the recent merger of three Congress legislators into the ruling NPP is a clear indication of confidence in both the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government and its leadership.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sangma pointed out that the coalition now comprises nearly 45 MLAs, even before the addition of the three new members.
“And most of the coalition partners are very committed to the coalition and we are also equally committed to them,” he said.
Conrad said, “In fact this (joining of the 3 MLAs) has strengthened us. We are at a point where the NPP has a majority but as I said that does not mean we are in any way looking at it from an arrogant point of view. No. We are very humbled. I am humbled by the joining of these leaders, I am humbled by their trust on the government and on the party and for them coming in and joining us. Hence, it is nothing but a clear message of confidence in this government and a clear message of confidence in the leadership and a clear message of confidence in the NPP and that is how I look at it.”
Conrad however said that Mukul Sangma’s recent statement indicated that he is more desperate and is trying to instill confidence among his own people and own party.
“In fact, the MLAs don’t trust their own political party, that is why they came to the NPP because they trust and believe and it is because of the testimony, the other MLAs of the NPP and government have mentioned how this government is working that has convinced the MLAs, made them believe that yes if they are part of the NPP and if they are part of this government, we will actually be able to fulfil the commitments we made to the people and lead to the overall development of their constituencies and that is the faith and trust with which they have come in and the MLAs within the NPP have shown a very positive response to their desire to come in when they heard the testimony of how their constituencies are moving forward, they came in,” he stated.
“If there was a problem within the NPP, if there was a situation where the NPP MLAs could not be trusted I don’t think those MLAs would have wanted to come into the NPP. So I think it is completely the opposite. The MLAs concerned had issues within their own political parties and they have clearly realised that the NPP and this government is working positively for the people and they would like to be part of this growth story and they would like to see their constituencies and their people are benefited from entire growth story that they are seeing in this government,” he added.