SHILLONG, JUN 13: The opposition Congress on Wednesday refused to accept that soon it would lose one of its senior legislators, Martin M Danggo, saying that all the 21 party legislators are intact, and the Ranikor MLA would not take “wrong” decision in leaving the party.
“We are please to tell you that all the 21 MLAs are intact. We have got trust in all the MLAs and we assured that all will work together and function as opposition in the right perspective in the interest of the people of the state,” Congress spokesperson Zenith M Sangma told reporters here.
In a meeting held at Ranikor on Tuesday, five-time Congress legislator Martin M Danggo has announced that he would put in his papers to join the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) after the chief minister Conrad K Sangma assured that Ranikor will be upgraded to a Civil Sub-division.
“I am thankful to the chief minister for his assurance to accept our memorandum and demands. I assure him that I will resign from Congress party as and when the date for the inauguration of the new Civil Sub-Division is made by the chief minister,” Danggo told the large gathering.
Asked, Zenith however defended by saying – “You see nothing is final in politics. If somebody says he or she will do something then it is still in the future tense and I am very much confident that Danggo, who is a very senior and is a seasoned politician, cannot take any wrong decision.”
Whether Danggo is indulging in hobnobbing with the NPP, the party spokesman said, “When certain action by any elected MLA belonging to any political party attracts the provision of the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution then it is the prerogative of the Assembly Speaker to take any step for disqualifying any member of the house.”
If the Congress would file a complaint against the Ranikor MLA, Zenith said, “It is too early to say but as of now all 21 MLAs are intact and so far we have not found any anti-party activity from any corner.” He however said there will be proper investigation as to who is responsible for any kind of anti-party activities if there is any.
Further reacting to a query, the Congress leader said that there will be no damage to the party even if Danggo decides to leave the Congress.
“There will be no damage because as of now he has not left and he is not leaving the party whatever indication that may be seen by you that is not our concern but I am confident that he is not leaving the party and he is matured seasoned politician and he will not take any wrong step,” he said.
On the allegations made by Danggo against the failure of the Congress, the party spokesperson admitted that the Ranikor area has been neglected and claimed that the then Congress-led government in the recent past has paid enough attention and lots of developmental works have been carried out.
He pointed out that in 2012, such a difficult area was given a new district (South West Khasi Hills), which was one of the biggest contribution to the treachery and subsequently new full fledged police station was also sanction and one administrative unit was given.
Massive investment was also done in 2017-18 financial year which include sanction was granted under SARDP-NE for construction of 136 km road from Baghmara to Ranikor but only tender could not be called because of delay in land acquisition, he said.
Alleging that Danggo had requested creation of a Ranikor administrative unit and not a civil sub-division, Zenith said that this demand came up now only but previously when Congress government under leadership of Mukul Sangma, Danggo demanded for administrative unit not civil sub-division.
“This petition is being submitted to the present government not Congress-led government. In my presence, Danggo spoke to the then CM Mukul Sangma if administrative unit could be sanctioned then it would be of great help and it was immediately was sanction and the response was so fast,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the Congress flag was also put down as a mark of dissolving the Ranikor Block Congress Committee (RBCC) and the flag of the NPP was instead hoisted before a large gathering after Congress leaders, workers and supporters decided to join the NPP during the meeting yesterday.
On this, Zenith said that the party leadership has taken not and will take action as this (flag issue) is very serious offence because it is an insult and humiliation to the party. According to him, every political party should be honoured in a democracy.
He also added that the dissolution of a block committee can only be done by the party’s district committee and the block committee is not authorized to dissolve any unit at their level.
By Our Reporter
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