Shillong, June 29: NCP leader Purno A. Sangma today took on the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, saying he would continue to assist Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga in his efforts to bring the banned Achik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC) to the negotiation table.

Sangma termed the arrest of NCP member Adolf Lu Hitler R. Marak as a politically-motivated move. “The Lapang government is introducing a new culture of political vendetta which was absent in Meghalaya.”

Armed with letters from Delhi, Sangma dared Lapang to arrest him. He produced letters to substantiate claims of him being a facilitator in the proposed peace process with the ANVC. The NCP leader visited Marak at the civil hospital and said that the former Meghalaya minister was “cheerful”.

Declining comment on whether his party would move for bail for Marak, Sangma indicated that the former Meghalaya minister would have to be freed by the state government.

Later addressing a news conference, he accused the Congress-led government of trying to sabotage the peace initiative with the ANVC.

This attitude of the state government is not acceptable, he said.

“When I found that chief minister Lapang was threatening to arrest me, I decided that I have to put the records straight,” he said. He said the Meghalaya government was not serious about finding a solution to militancy.

An angry Sangma reiterated that he and Marak were part of the peace process following the Union government’s policy to bring all insurgents to the negotiation table.

He produced documents and said that the process began on September 14 last year. “After the Centre’s call, I tried to reach out to the ANVC leadership and they responded to my request positively,” he said. He also handed over copies of the letter written by ANVC general secretary Wanding K. Marak to deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. “I carried this letter to Delhi,” he said.

The letter stated that the Garo outfit is “revolutionary in nature and firmly believes in the Constitution of India and we want to achieve our goals within the framework of the Constitution”.

“We want to state that we are willing to discuss and negotiate with the Government of India.”

The NCP leader reminded Advani of the ANVC’s offer to hold negotiations with the Centre in a subsequent letter on May 26 last, copies of which were handed to reporters.

In a reply on June 3, the Union home minister had acknowledged the “willingness of the ANVC to negotiate their demands with the Centre”, Sangma said.