SHILLONG, JUNE 10: Three-time Gambegre legislator Saleng A Sangma on Monday tendered his resignation as member of the State Assembly after being elected as new Tura MP.
Addressing media persons, Saleng said, “I got elected for the Lok Sabha so before swearing in I think it is better to resign (and vacate Gambegre Assembly seat).”
He informed that he would discuss with his people and party leaders in regards to the setting up of a candidate for the upcoming bye-election for Gambegre seat.
The Tura MP said, “Now, I don’t think this is the first time for me to be in the opposition. I was in the opposition for the whole five years as a lone independent MLA. This time, I have got friends in the parliament, which have barely few margins to be in the opposition. Last time, I was alone but this time, we are a team.”
Saleng said that he would be taking up in the parliament long pending issues of the state which include Inner Line Permit (ILP), inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, to move the Centre for changes in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) among others.
He also accused former Tura MP Agatha Sangma of not speaking a word about ILP in the parliament. He said, “ILP issue was taken up by Vincent Pala and not by Agatha. She had only given representation to the minister but she had not spoken a single word (about the ILP issue) on the floor of the House.”
“We have also got a lot of issues pertaining to unemployment, pertaining to education and corruption. Moreover, the drug issue has also boomed in our state and this needs to be contained and seriously looked into,” he said.
“Right now, the advantage is that somewhat the democracy is safe because the BJP-led NDA, they have not got the majority, that is why there is a chance for us and moreover they cannot bulldoze anymore,” Saleng added.
Asked, he said, “Of course we will be dealing with CAA. They have already been notified. CAA has been notified from before no doubt but we might be able to make changes so we will call for that and we will discuss with leaders from Delhi on how to go about it as there’s lots of rules and regulations, which they already framed it, so we will study the matter and see how can it be revoked or make changes in some areas.”
Saleng said, “There was no such agenda, it was the truth that we have spoken. We have talked about the Manipur issue, about minority issues, we talked about issues happening in and around and moreover negligence of the state government and the MP then, that’s what we tried to flash out and speak the truth. We didn’t make any promises or agenda but the thing is that we made a promise that we will definitely look after them and try to bulldoze our Christian community and all the minorities and sections of the people not only within the state but outside the state also and also within the country.”
The Congress MP said that TMC and other political parties have never supported him during the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
“TMC never supported me. Who told you that? They never supported. It is the voters, I am telling you and definitely it is the divine intervention, it’s God himself who has blessed me. Forget TMC. Anybody can speak anything brother but it doesn’t mean that we are not accepting, nobody has supported us, only people and the Lord himself,” he added.