Tura, Feb. 2: With the Assembly polls in Meghalaya inching closer, militancy has become the favourite stick of leaders here to beat one another.
This is particularly true of NCP leader P.A. Sangma and PCC chief S.C. Marak ? both leaders are holding each other responsible for fostering insurgency in the poll hotbed of Garo Hills.
While Sangma has made it a point to associate Marak with the ?resurgence? of insurgency in Garo Hills in almost every political address, the former Congress chief minister, too, has hurled a similar accusation back on Sangma, though in a restrained manner.
?I do not believe in personal attacks. I will appeal to my partymen to avoid doing it, but when you are being wrongly accused of things you are not responsible for, one has to clarify,? Marak said of Sangma?s vitriolic attack on the chief minister?s role in the hills.
The Congress and the NCP are being seen as the main rivals in the Garo Hills ? the ?battle of the giants? as it is being called ? where 24 of the total of 60 Assembly constituencies are located. Soon after the Congress released its manifesto, Marak kicked off the party?s election campaign.
During extensive tours of West and South Garo Hills, Marak told the gatherings that ?Sangma is lying?. He said that the NCP leader was misleading the people with his tirade.
?When the erstwhile Achik Liberation Matgrik Army surrendered and some of their members formed the present A?chik National Volunteers? Council, Purno Sangma was very much a part of the Congress. He could have aired his views on the matter then, but he remained a silent spectator. Now he is raking up issues just to gain political mileage,? Marak said.
In another function at Tura, where the Congress manifesto was released in the Garo language, Marak again targeted Sangma, saying the NCP leader?s agenda ?was to prevent Sonia Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister and Marak returning as the chief minister of Meghalaya?.
The former chief minister was confident of a Congress win, saying, ?Only the Congress can provide stability.?
Urging the people to vote for his party, he said: ?We have experimented with other parties and have seen their performance. They have failed to uplift the economic life of the people.?