SHILLONG, May 26 – Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang yesterday scotched reports of dropping some of his allies from his Council of Ministers while denying alliance with NCP, reports PTI. “There is no substance in these reports. I do not find time to reply to those,” Lapang, a senior Congress leader, told a scribe who asked him to comment on his reported move to drop some of his coalition partners from the government. Lapang heads a Meghalaya Democratic Alliance comprising four parties and some independents.
There was a report in the section of the Press and strong rumour doing the rounds that before leaving for New Delhi on May 14 last, Lapang sent a recommendation to the Raj Bhawan to drop the ministers of the United Democratic Party, the largest ally in the MDA, from the government. The Chief Minister also replied in the negative when asked if a Congress-NCP alliance was on the cards following the central arrangement. The Sharad Pawar led party is the Opposition outfit here. “I have not got anything from the high command (in this regard),” he said.
Asked to spell out a formula on downsizing of ministry, the Chief Minister parried a direct reply but said in a lighter vein he would do it on July 5 (just a day before the deadline fixed by the central legislation) and then go for holidays.
Sangma's peace process
Meanwhile, encouraged by a better show of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang fired the first salvo aginst the Nationalist Trinamool Congress leader Purno A Sangma by negating his facilitation of peace talks with an underground outfit of the state. Sangma had claimed last year to initiate peace talks with the outlawed Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) to bring peace in the trouble-torn Garo hills region of the state.
Lapang told reporters here Sangma's peace initiatives with the ANVC had no value now as the “permission” he obtained regarding this from previous Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee or his deputy LK Advani had become “obsolete”. “If he is really sincere, he should approach the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” Lapang said. The Chief Minister, who had raised objection last year to Sangma's bid saying the Garo leader did not have any sanction from the state to carry forward the process, said no new steps were required now to stop the former Lok Sabha Speaker as the previous orders were all “obsolete” now.
Lapang said his government would approach the Centre again to initiate the process. “If they ask us to do it, it is fine. If they do it on their own, it should be done with the full knowledge of the state government,” he said. Sangma, who hails from Garo hills region from Meghalaya, last year said he had informed the Centre about his bid to initiate peace talks with the underground ANVC outfit. The Lapang Government, which appointed two church bodies to hold dialogue with two insurgent groups, protested Sangma's move vehemently terming it ‘unauthorized’.