Shillong Aug 10: The opposition Congress in Meghalaya on Monday decided to retain Dr Celestine Lyngdoh as president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) and resolved to reorganize the party as part of its preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections in 2023.
This was decided during the meeting of MLAs and office bearers of the MPCC with AICC general secretary, Luizinho Faleiro via video conferencing.
The MPCC president, Leader of Opposition, Dr Mukul Sangma, Lok Sabha MP from Shillong and working president, Vincent H Pala and other MLAs and office bearers of the party joined the discussion.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pala said that the meeting was an initiative of the AICC general secretary in view of the views expressed by some of the party MLAs through a letter to the AICC on the need to strengthen the party and ensure better coordination between the Congress Legislature Party and the MPCC.
“All MLAs who joined the discussion, spoke from their heart and gave various suggestions on the need to strengthen the party as well as reorganize the party in those areas that did not have MLAs,†Pala said, while denying division in the party.
Asked about the letter demanding replacement of the MPCC president, Pala said that all MLAs heard the president who explained his position especially as his mother is unwell and she had to undergo some operation.
“The MLAs had written the letter to the AICC on the need to strengthen and re-organise the party but not for change of leadership,†Pala said.
On changing the present CLP leader, Dr Mukul Sangma, Pala defended saying that the Leader of Opposition is in Garo Hills monitoring the situation as well as start the preparation for the upcoming elections to the GHADC.
The Shillong MP said that all MLAs decided to repose their confidence in the leadership of the present MPCC leader, while suggesting better coordination between the CLP and the party, strengthens the party right from the grassroot level and focus on the youth as well.
Pala informed that during the meeting, the AICC general secretary suggested the party to have more spokespersons and proposed a roadmap for the overall strengthening of the party keeping in mind the upcoming election to the State Assembly in 2023.
To question that Congress MLAs may leave the party as it is in the opposition, Pala said that MLAs come and go and some of them left the party wanting to be in the ruling.
“There are also others who come and join the party. We have another two and half years before the Assembly elections, and it is not possible to say now who will come and join the party or who will leave. We have seen in the last 2018 Assembly elections, some MLAs of the party left the party just before the elections. Therefore we cannot predict anything now,†the Congress MP said.
