SHILLONG, SEPT 2: Congress senior leader and cabinet minister HDR Lyngdoh has expressed confidence that the ruling party will retain the seat of power and Mukul Sangma will continue to lead the new government as the chief minister in 2018.
“I am confident from the inputs I am getting that the Congress will cross the 30 mark and will form the new government in the upcoming assembly elections, slated to be held next year,” Lyngdoh said.
Asked whether the party is proposing to change the leader this time, the home minister however said, “Mukul Sangma is the leader as of today and I don’t see any reason why he should be replaced.”
Sangma, who is going to complete his full five-year term, has been serving as the chief minister since 2010 under the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (I & II) state government.
The ruling Congress is having 30 sitting legislators in the 60-member House. However, Lyngdoh said that it is important for the party to go to the people as one voice and not as a divided house.
With the BJP banging on the issue of coal mining ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the state, the senior party leader however said, “Whatever critics are saying, the Congress will return to power in the state.”
The BJP has even vowed to ensure that the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is lifted if it is voted to power while slamming the present state government’s failure to come up with the mining plan even after the lapse of three years.
Reacting to this, Lyngdoh claimed that the government has been able to bring a lot of developments in the past 7-8 years under the leadership of the chief minister Mukul Sangma.
“You can criticize (the government) for the sake of criticism but from what I see people of the state will never accept the BJP,” he added.
However, reports have suggested that few of the Congress sitting legislators would leave the party to seek re-election from other political parties.
Such sitting legislators named in the reports include a former deputy chief minister and two former ministers – Rowell Lyngdoh, Sniawbhalang Dhar and Prestone Tynsong – who were earlier dropped from the Cabinet by Sangma and another is Ngaitlang Dhar.
This could be one of the reasons for the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) to distribute the application forms for applying of party ticket early this time. The last date for collection of forms by ticket aspirants has been fixed from August 31 to September 15.
Reacting to a query, Lyngdoh, who informed that he would be soon apply for party ticket, said, “We will know how many sitting MLAs will not apply for party ticket after the date for collection of application forms is over.”
He also stated that those who wish to defect from the party, people knows and they are the best judge and they will teach them (sitting MLAs) a lesson in the forthcoming elections.
By Our Reporter
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