Meghalaya Polls: Militant-Turned-BJP Leader Bernard Marak To Take On CM Conrad Sangma On Home Turf
Meghalaya will vote for the new government in single phase on February 27 and the votes will be counted on March 2.
Guwahati: Militant-turned-politician and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state unit Vice-President Bernard Marak will contest against State Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) President Conrad K Sangma on his home turf, South Tura seat in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills.
Marak, 47, made headlines in July 2022 when he was arrested on charges of allegedly running a brothel in his resort, situated in his hometown Tura.
The former militant leader had been absconding after the allegations against him came to the fore, but he was soon arrested from Uttar Pradesh and is currently on bail.
The arrest soured the already bitter relationship between both the NPP and its coalition partner BJP in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government in the state.
The BJP even accused the NPP that it was settling personal scores with the saffron party by falsely framing Marak.
As a result, both the parties decided to go solo in 2023 Meghalaya Assembly elections and the BJP fielded its State Unit Vice President Bernard Marak against NPP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Conrad K Sangma.
Though Marak is contesting against Sangma, who is seemingly a strong contender, the former believes that defeating the latter on his home turf would not be a difficult task.
Speaking exclusively to ABP Live, Bernard Marak said, “I am 100 per cent confident of winning the seat. I will win against the Chief Minister because people of the state have been deprived, hurt, betrayed.”
Marak added, “Even I have been betrayed. I have been victimized with all the false allegations and false charges and all my supporters and people of Tura have understood that it was a conspiracy to keep me away from contesting the polls. But God has given me this chance, now everybody has come to know the truth that how corrupt he is, how he has used the state machinery to frame me, to slap false cases against me.”
Stating that the court has taken cognizance, the former militant leader said, “there is no evidence on the cases against me. I am out of it and I will defeat him democratically and politically.”
Talking about Sangma, Marak said that the chief minister is not campaigning.
“He is simply using money power and liquor to lure the voters. This is not good politics, this is not leadership. Today we can see that young people below 18 years of age are also drinking because free liquor is being distributed in all the localities and there is nothing we can do about it,” he said
“They have been indulging in 100 per cent corruption. Even the people who got their names listed as beneficiaries have been asked to build their houses on their own. The people of Garo Hills have been deprived of everything. So you can imagine the quantum of corruption which is going on in Garo Hills,” Marak added.
When asked if winning against CM Sangma on his home turf may not be a “cakewalk” Marak said, “It was not tough for us when we contested the last district council elections. I won from his seat. Actually the Chief Minister won because of us, we are the leaders in the ground, and people who voted for him are people like us, who anticipated change from him. But he betrayed me and thousands of other people who voted for him. As a result, I won the Chief Minister’s seat in the MDC elections. I fought alone, I did not campaign much during the elections, and still I won. So the picture and message is clear.”
“We are more than 100 per cent confident that the BJP will form the government and we will bring about changes in the state,” Marak added.
On being asked if he will take on the CM’s chair if the saffron party is voted to power in the state he said, “If my leaders find me worthy to lead the state I am ready to become the Chief Minister and if it happens, the first thing I will do is eradicate corruption. Corruption is the main virus which is destroying the entire society, which is destroying our youths, which is destroying our people in general.”
“Secondly, we have to take action on all those who have deprived the poor and the general public from availing the schemes. Lastly, we will focus on education, healthcare, road connectivity, development and empowerment. Empowerment has been a major issue for us. I am planning to generate over 10,000 jobs for young people in South Tura alone, and I will do that for other parts of the state too. We can bring about many changes, we can bring many more projects. We also have a vision for the Garo Hills, we have a vision for Meghalaya. We will change the complete picture of the state and take it to a level which it has been deprived of in the last 50 years,” he said.
Bernard Marak, a former member of the proscribed Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), a Garo Hills based militant outfit, fighting for a separate state for the Garo tribe, joined the BJP in 2018 but soon left and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
He contested the 2018 State Assembly polls from the South Tura constituency on a TMC ticket against Conrad Sangma’s younger sister and former Union Minister Agatha Sangma, but lost.
However, he returned to the BJP in 2019 and was elected to the Garo Hills Development Council
Marak, who is often found fighting for the tribal issues, has on several occasions targeted the state government, especially Conrad and Agatha Sangma, alleging them of misappropriation of funds through ghost projects in their constituencies.
Meghalaya will vote for the new government in single phase on February 27 and the votes will be counted on March 2.
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