Opposition MLAs joining NPP as public mood in our favour: Meghalaya CM Sangma

Tura (Meghalaya) [India], February 12 : NPP leader and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma appealed to voters in his constituency, Tura, to go along with the prevailing NPP wave and support his candidature for CM because the political situation on the ground was in favour of his party.
He said the political headwinds in the state were in favour of his party, to the extent that even opposition MLAs have realised the futility of contesting on their own party tickets and were, in fact, making a beeline to join his party.
"Opposition MLAs have realised that the public mood is strongly in our favour. Why else would the legislators from the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, and other regional parties, make a beeline to join us," the CM said.
"Jimmy D Sangma and Marthon J Sangma from Trinamool Congress, Ampareen Lyngdoh, Monindro Rapsang and Kimfa Marbaniang from Congress, Hamletson Dohling, Samlin Malniang and others have joined us because they know we are going to give the people a stable NPP government after returning to power with a clear majority," said Sangma.
"Voters of Tura will not vote for Conrad Sangma alone but for their chief minister. Their votes will have a ripple effect across the state and benefit others. Look at Rongjeng. Your votes for me 5 years ago helped me to work together for the people of Rongjeng and help them realise their dream of a civil sub-division. Your vote is going to benefitothers," added the chief minister to a rapturous applause from voters in Tura bazar during a campaign event on Sunday evening.
Conrad stressed the importance of Tura town, which he claimed was deprived of development for many years until he turned things around in five years, tackling head-on the issues of water scarcity, street-lighting, lack of neighbourhood roads and sporting arenas for the youth.
"We brought in visible development for Tura through the Smart Town project and the Tura Town beautification project. Over 250 internal roads are under construction and close to 80 per cent of the population now have access to piped water. Even five years back, many localities in Tura were facing these issues.
"There is a new push for development in Tura and my promise to the residents here is to continue the work for people's welfare," he added.
On cracking down on insurgency and preventing a return of the state to the dark days, the CM said his government has been proactive in ensuring peace and has remained at the forefront of democracy and governance.
He said sceptics had predicted that the state would always remain affected by militancy but his government proved the doubters wrong.
"Our intelligence is always on alert. Many do not know the joint mechanism between the government and the police in matters of security. After the Shillong blasts, our police worked tirelessly and helped to avert major casualties," said Sangma, lauding the role of the security forces in preventing militancy from resurfacing and containing extortion in the state.
"The fear in the minds of our citizens is no longer there," he added.