SHILLONG, March 2 � Shillong Congress MP, Vincent H Pala must be dropped from the Union Cabinet for allegedly maintaining links with criminals, demanded the BJP today.
Shooting off a letter to President Pratibha Patil, the BJP here demanded that Pala must be dropped as a Union Minister of Water Resources and his role in last year�s May 31 Shillong jail break must be probed.
Pala was accused by a convict of keeping close contact with the jail break mastermind Fullmoon Dhar over the phone inside the jail. Pala, however, denied the accusation and said he was willing to testify before the Commission probing the jail break.
�Since the Union Minister himself is willing to depose before the Biswas Commission it is necessary that he is relived from his post,� BJP�s State unit general secretary, PM Passah said.
The BJP today met the Governor Ranjit S Mooshahary at the Raj Bhavan and sought his intervention in this regard.
Apart from Pala, a Congress district council member from Jaintia Hills, Thomas Nongtdu was alleged to have financed the jail break.
Seven convicts escaped the jail. The convicts managed to bribe jail staffers and also smuggled in arms, liquor and mobile phones before escaping.
Police tracked down all seven fugitives and gunned down Fullmoon Dhar a day after the escape in Jaintia Hills.