Sitting Congress MP Vincent Pala on Friday filed his nomination papers for contesting from Shillong constituency for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
After filing his nomination, Pala said he was confident that he would be elected for the third time in Shillong by voters as he had always ‘ensured development in the region’.
“I don’t want to blow my own trumpet but I have brought development to the state in terms of roads, infrastructure and the Shillong airport besides other developmental activities in various sectors,” he said.
This is the third time that the All India Congress Committee (AICC ) has given Pala a ticket for the parliamentary elections according to reports.
Pala asserted that his party will return to power and the BJP stands very less chance of winning. “There is no doubt that the Congress will return to power as the BJP has lost control in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and even in southern states. Its (BJP) allies are also running away from the party,” he said in a statement.
The engineer-turned-politician also accused the BJP of dividing the people of the country on terms of religious sentiments. “They (BJP) have realized that they are not going to win the election and that’s why have resorted to dividing the people into Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others,” he added.
Pala also mentioned noted that if Congress comes back in power, they will do away with the highly controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) and maintained that CAB would be the root cause of influx to the state.
If elected to Lok Sabha, Pala said he would focus on the area of education, create job avenues and work on skill development and improvement of digital connectivity in the state.
Meghalaya’s two constituencies, Shillong and Tura, will go to polls on April 11.