SHILLONG, June 24 - The Meghalaya Government is seeking to put an official stamp on Chief Minister Conrad Sangma�s recent visit to Manipur to tackle the revolt within the NPP unit of that State.
Sangma has no official business with the Government of Manipur as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, but he visited that State on Sunday last in his capacity as the national president of the NPP as four of his party MLAs in Manipur had reportedly joined hands with the Congress.
But Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong is now citing an official notification of the State Health Department dated June 22, which states that the Chief Minister and other higher officials can move outside the State on urgent official work.
Sangma�s �political� visit to Manipur is being sought to be justified under this provision of �urgent official work�. When a journalist quizzed the Deputy Chief Minister on Sangma�s �political visit�, Tynsong retorted: �Are you saying that politics is not official?�
The Deputy Chief Minister maintained that Sangma had rushed to Manipur to sort out �issues� in that State and added that even Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had gone there too.
Tynsong said that both these leaders rushed to Manipur as otherwise �people of Manipur would have suffered and so we treat this as an official visit�.
Meanwhile, Sangma has been criticised for undertaking this �political� visit at the time of the pandemic condition. Former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi has tweeted that both Sangma and Sarma violated COVID-19 quarantine guidelines.
