SHILLONG, October 17: Ranikor MLA Pius Marwein has said his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with seven other United Democratic Party (UDP) legislators, was driven by assurances from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on five long-pending demands of Meghalaya. Marwein said the legislators were confident that their association with the BJP, which leads the government at the Centre, would help them pursue issues that had proved difficult to resolve through the state government alone.
In a press release, Marwein thanked Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma for recognising the merger of the eight MLAs with the BJP, describing it as legal and consistent with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. He said the negotiations had been challenging in a small state like Meghalaya, particularly with a stable government in place. Having served two terms as an MLA and MDC and spent more than 20 years in politics, Marwein said fulfilling political commitments was often difficult when the issues fell within the Centre’s legislative domain and legislators lacked the backing of the national party in power.
The five demands on which Marwein said the legislators received assurances from Shah are the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), inclusion of Khasi and Garo in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, coal mining, relocation of the Dalit Sikh community and grant of minority status to Seng Khasi Sein Raij. He said several rounds of discussions in Delhi helped convince the legislators to join the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. Marwein also thanked BJP MP and Northeast in-charge Sambit Patra for hearing their demands and raising them with the concerned ministries.
Marwein said the eight legislators would soon meet Shah and other Union ministers in Delhi to pursue development projects for Meghalaya. He expressed hope that they would work with their National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in the state government, particularly Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, to accelerate development. He added that their priority would be to strengthen rural development by educating people about central government schemes and the benefits available to them.
