Shillong, Nov. 19 (IANS): Trinamool Congress' National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who led a massive rally in western Meghalaya's Tura on Friday, announced that if his party comes to power in the next assembly elections, the new government would not be controlled from Bengal.
Saying that "sons of the Meghalaya's soil" would run the state government after the assembly polls, Banerjee announced that former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma would be the party's chief ministerial face in the upcoming polls.
He said that people of Meghalaya can't bear the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) government led by National People's Party (NPP) rule anymore and the Trinamool as a party "wants to give them (the people) a platform to raise their concerns".
"We are on a mission to ensure that welfare reaches to each and every person in our beautiful hill state," Banerjee said.
"... we promise to continue serving the people with utmost dedication. We won't be cowed down before the autocratic forces," he said.
"Why did the Centre fail to include Khasi and Garo languages in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution," the Trinamool leader asked and termed the ruling NPP, which is a constituent of the BJP led NDA, as "National Puppet Party".
"The double-engine government has everything at their disposal. Then, what's stopping them. Does MDA's internal conflicts supersede the interest of people," Banerjee asked.
He said that the Trinamool Congress' symbol has two flowers and three petals in each flower. "The three petals are for the three hills - Khasi, Garo and Jaintia and the TMC (abbreviation for Trinamool Congress) stands for Temple, Mosque and Church and we firmly believe in unity in diversity."
Banerjee claimed that the NPP has not even filed its 2018 election expenditure report and "we want to challenge them to sit in a face to face debate on the issues of Meghalaya and the nation".
"Four months back, we started the membership drive in Meghalaya with a few hundreds. Today, we are a big humongous family with one lakh active members," Banerjee said adding that the pictures of today's (Friday) rally will give sleepless nights to "National Puppet Party's conmen".
Sangma, a former Chief Minister of Meghalaya (2010-2018), along with 11 Congress MLAs joined the Trinamool Congress in November 2021, and now the party is the main opposition party in Meghalaya.