Joshua Warjri
BJP candidate Joshua Warjri for Shella by-poll seen with other Meghalaya BJP leaders. Image credit - Northeast Now

Meghalaya BJP legislator Sanbor Shullai on Monday said sanctioning of schemes by the Centre for the state government and district councils in Meghalaya has to be consulted with the party in the state.

Shullai assured that schemes for development of Shella constituency will come directly from Delhi if the people vote for the BJP candidate, Joshua Warjri in the upcoming by-poll.

Shella will go to by-poll on October 21.

Shullai accompanied Warjri during the filing of nominations before returning officer L. Kynjing at the Sohra civil sub-divisional office.

Also read: Meghalaya: 6 candidates file nomination for Shella by-election

He told reporters that before sanctioning of any central scheme for Meghalaya, the government in Delhi has to first call Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Meghalaya for consultation and screening.

“Chief minister Conrad K Sangma and other ministers, besides executive members of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council visited Delhi frequently to seek financial assistance from the BJP government at the Centre,” said Shullai.

“In the last memorandum we submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah, we have stated that all central schemes before sanctioning should be first scrutinized thoroughly by the state BJP.”

“And then form a monitoring and implementation committee to ensure that schemes are really implemented and they should not remain in secretariat,” Shullai added.

The BJP, which has two MLAs, is part of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government in Meghalaya.

While referring to the KHADC deputy CEM, who went to Delhi for seeking fund from the Centre, Shullai said, “Everybody has to go to Delhi to seek help.”

“Therefore it is of no point for the people of Shella to vote for Team B or Team C (of the BJP), but directly vote for the BJP candidate (Warjri) so that the BJP can bring money directly from Delhi for the development of Shella constituency,” said Shullai.

Stating that the victory of the BJP from Shella constituency in the by-poll will be the victory of the MDA government, Shullai said other MDA partners have no choice but to embrace the BJP because without the BJP, the state government will not get money from Delhi.

“The BJP is for corruption-free and one of its mottos is to eradicate corruption.”

“Therefore any scheme to be sanctioned by Delhi we will not allow them to go to somebody’s pocket because the Prime Minister has clearly said he will not indulge in corrupt practices and will not allow others to be corrupt,” Shullai said.

Claiming that the BJP is a clean party, Shullai said in the last elections, the party did not allot tickets to MPs who were involved in corruption.

He exhorted the people of Shella constituency to vote for Warjri to ensure that money for developmental activities reach Shella directly from Delhi.

Warjri said Shella requires a lot of attention from the government as it due to lack of development especially road infrastructure.

He assured the people that if elected, he would work to uplift the constituency by working together with the people and the BJP leaders.

Besides Warjri, the candidates, who filed their papers on Monday before include Independent candidate and Nongshken MDC Grace Mary Kharpuri, Congress’ Batyngshaiñ Ryngnga and People’s Democratic Front (PDF) candidate Mosjo Wanswet.

Kharpuri is the only woman candidate fighting this by-election. She had unsuccessfully contested from Shella in 2013 Assembly elections.