Shillong, Sept 7: Former BJP member HM Shangpliang said he did try to meet the top leaders of the BJP including Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to apprise them on the state of affairs of the BJP in Meghalaya but they did not bother.
“After the elections were over, I tried to get an appointment with the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. I tried 3 times but I failed. Then I tried to get an appointment with Rituraj Sinha. There were times he never picked up my calls, there were times I messaged him and he would say I will call you back and I never got the calls–so those actually frustrated me”, HM Shangpliang, who quit the BJP, told reporters on Thursday.
Shangpliang had cited internal conflicts and nepotism by the state BJP president Ernest Mawrie as the reason for leaving the BJP.
“I did meet Sanbor Shullai and I did brief him and Shullai was equally very angry with the whole situation and he didn’t have much to say of course and he said this is why our party is failing in the state. Then again, I met AL Hek several times. Just two days before I handed in my resignation letter I met Hek and finally I said I am resigning and I am quitting the party. He asked me what the reason was. I told him the reason and he said sorry for whatever has happened. That is all I could hear from them,” he said.
“I would leave all these issues to be addressed by the party. Before I left the house I had indicated the flaws in the house. Now it is up to the owner of the house to address the issues and straighten the house. I have nothing more to say because I have left the house,” he added.
‘Did not discuss common candidate issue’
The former Mawsynram legislator also denied the claims made by the BJP state president Ernest Mawrie that he wanted the MDA to set up a common candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
“I have never discussed Lok Sabha elections with Mawrie. I have never even asked for a ticket nor was there any discussion about some common candidate or something.” he said.
“In fact one fine morning I saw the headline in the newspaper mentioning my name as a probable candidate for the Lok Sabha from the BJP party. Immediately I called up Dipayan Chakravarty, who is the vice president of the state BJP and I said how is it without my knowledge my name has come out in the press about being an MP candidate then the answer I got was we do not have any probable candidate or person except you that’s why we thought we will nominate your name. If they have discussed among themselves, I have nothing to say on that”, he said.
