The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has charged the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) of being the "father of lies" and forming the government in the state and Centre based on false promises given to the public and through horse trading.
On Saturday, during a press meet at Congress Bhawan, MPCC working president K Meghachandra alleged that on July 20, 2017, the Minister of the Commerce and Industries department had promised to provide jobs to 1.5 lakhs people each year, which means that in five years the number of employment provided should be nearly 7.5 lakhs. The present BJP government is befooling the people with false promises and there are no jobs as promised by them, he said.
The Congress MLA also took a dig at the BJP government over the failure to enhance the Covid-19 vaccination drive stating that the state recorded the lowest vaccination drive among the five states where the election is scheduled on February 27 and March 3.
“The Election Commission of India had stated that only 57 per cent of the total population of the state have been vaccinated first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and the number of people who got 2nd dose is only 43 per cent,” Meghachandra said and questioned as to where are the measures taken up by the government for enhancement of Covid-19 vaccination drive; as to what had happened to the door to door vaccination programme and the mobile vaccination drive gone and why is the vaccination rate so low when compared to other states.
The MPCC working president also attacked the former Rajya Saha MP K Bhavananda for misleading the people for stating that 11 IRB battalion will be open in the state.
“Those are words to fool the people as there are no IRB or MR Battalions opened to date. Besides, the recruitment of the IRB constable and the Jamandar has not yet been declared to date and as the code of conduct has been in effect since January 8, there is no way that this government will declare the result,” Meghachandra said.
Meghachandra charged the Commerce and Industry Department for cheating the general public. During the Congress government, three industries centres started construction and left it only to be inaugurated. Besides the three centres at Thoubal, Bishnupur and Lamboikhongnangkhong, no other centre has been opened. And how many people have been given the job in Loitang Khunou Spinning Mill, he asked.
It is not a political war but it is facts and figures that are falling in front of the public and the public should decide who will be well representatives, the MPCC President said. However, the achievement of the BJP government of each department should be published in the white paper before the election, Meghachandra said.
Continuing with the allegation against the PWD Department, Meghachandra clarified that it is against the concerned department and not to the ministers individually. It is very unfortunate that the ministers took it personnel and act like a child, he added.
With regards to the clarification by PWD Minister Th Biswajit in connection with the allegation leveled by him about misappropriation of Rs. 800 crore at PWD during 2021-22, Meghachandra said that he has documents that have been collected from the top official of the PWD department. He stated that he stands with his statement about the misappropriation of the fund and alleged that the PWD Minister is trying to mislead the people. He alleged that no work order has been issued for the implementation of the works.
In connection with the restriction of fund utilization to 40 per cent and 60 per cent due to COVID-19, the MPCC demanded valid documents for the restriction of the fund. He said that he had documents to prove that there is no such fund restriction as there is no official record about using funds from the PWD department for use of Covid-19 emergency purposes.
Meghachandra also mentioned the finance department had released an office memorandum of limitation of budget twice in the year 2020. Then, why the big-budget had been put up in the house, if the limitation was there then where is remaining, he questioned.
