SHILLONG, AUG 23: Meghalaya Congress president Vincent H Pala on Thursday accused senior National People’s Party leader and deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar of functioning as the “spokesperson” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The reaction from Pala came a day after the NPP national general secretary made a statement prophesying the end of the Congress in Meghalaya, after three out of the four sitting legislators, defected to the NPP camp.
The three Congress legislators – Gabriel Wahlang (Nongstoin), Dr Celestine Lyngdoh (Umsning) and Charles Marngar (Mawhati) – joined the NPP, this week.
“Sniawbhalang Dhar is the spokesperson of the RSS. The RSS or the BJP wherever they are, their voice is Congress Mukt. So Sniawbhalang Dhar has to voice it otherwise they know all illegalities from drugs, coal to anything all done by Sniawbhalang Dhar and company,” Pala told reporters.
The Congress leader also alleged that Dhar is already under the scanner of the CBI for illegal activities.
“I was an MP, I know. They used to come to me and ask for feedback, intelligence. All their files are on their (CBI) table. A time will come and we will see who Sniawbhalang is. History will tell who Pala is and who is Sniawbhalang?”
Accusing the BJP and its allies of going on a witch hunt to target opposition leaders and their chief ministers in the states, Pala said that the arrest of Arwind Kejriwal and other political leaders would return to haunt the saffron party. “The records which they have put against opposition leaders would one day land them in problem,” he warned.
“Today they have to speak the voice of the BJP otherwise they will be finished. The voice of Sniawbhalang is hundred percent the voice of the BJP, the voice of the RSS. The people of Meghalaya should know who he is. His statement has exposed him,” alleged the Congress chief.
Returning the “invitation” given to him by Deputy Chief Minister Dhar, who said that the NPP would welcome Pala to join its fold anytime, the Congress president responded by saying “I think Pala is richer than the NPP”.
