The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Meghalaya unit president, W Kharshiing, on Sunday said that his party would withdraw support from the E K Mawlong ministry on Monday. BJP has three legislators in the 60-member house. Of them, T H Rangad and A L Hek quit the ministerial posts of education and art and culture on November 12 respectively.
Another BJP MLA N N Simsang resigned from the post of chairman of the Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation on the same day to protest the alleged controversial deal of Kolkata's Meghalaya House. But they, however, announced to support the Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum (MPF) coalition government from outside. '' The BJP parliamentary board had directed its MLAs now to withdraw support from the government,” Dr Kharshiing announced on Sunday. “The decision to do so is unanimous,'' he added.
The BJP, which is the part of the MPF government, had been critical to the state government's decision to sign a MoU with the Asian housing construction for building the Meghalaya House in Kolkata. The party had even asked for a change of the guard in the MPF government, besides demanding scrapping of the deal and a high level inquiry into the whole deal.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party legislators, including their leader Lotsing A Sangma who had been served a 48-hour deadline on Saturday by the party to withdraw support from the government, had reiterated their support to chief minister E K Mawlong.
The NCP's deadline ends at 5 PM on Monday.
Bureau Report