"Meghalaya Chief Minister Shared Table With Drug Kingpin": Trinamool MLA

Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Sangma has accused Chief Minister Conrad Sangma of sharing a table with an alleged drug kingpin at an event in Delhi. Speaking in the Assembly on Tuesday, the former chief minister showed a photo of the alleged kingpin, identified only as Henry, at the event with the chief minister and advised him to "avoid any association" with the man.

The chief minister has rubbished the allegations and said that, as a public figure, many people get their photographs taken with him and that does not mean he has any association with them. "In the age of social media, this is the most ridiculous way of trying to prove anything," said Conrad Sangma. 

Speaking during a motion on the 'menace of drugs and substance abuse' in the Meghalaya Assembly, Mukul Sangma showed the photo of the chief minister with the alleged drug lord and said, "I have to advise the chief minister to avoid any association with this man. Is he aware of the background of this man? This was a very high-profile event in Delhi and I tried to find out how the man found a place there, sharing the same table. I was informed that this seating arrangement was requested by the chief minister's office."

"We have to be careful of who we are associating with. Otherwise, these people will have access. If they are travelling with us in the same convoy, with Z-plus category... and getting access to such high-profile events. The fight against this particular menace is an important responsibility. We cannot behave like young boys and girls who will not part ways with their old buddies who may have already gone astray," he added.

Dismissing the allegations, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said both he and the Trinamool leader are public figures and millions of people take photos with them. "I think connecting two individuals' activities based on a photograph and then coming to a conclusion is the most illogical conclusion anyone can jump to. It has to be based on evidence, on proof, of what activities were taking place."

"Even if there was some programme that two people have attended together or whatever seatings were done. These things happen. Programmes are made, organising committees make them. We sit with thousands of people. Am I named in any police case? It's unfortunate that he is jumping to such conclusions," the chief minister said.