Shillong, June 13: The Congress on Wednesday said that senior Congress MLA and former PWD minister, M.M. Danggo would not leave the party, a day after the Ranikor MLA announced that he would leave the party and also resign as MLA on the day when the Ranikor Civil Sub Division is inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.
Congress MLA and spokesperson of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Zenith Sangma told reporters at Congress Bhavan all the 21 MLAs are intact and all the MLAs and will work together and play the role of opposition in the right perspective for the interest of the people of the state.
Though Danggo has announced that he would leave the party and resign as MLA, Zenith however said that “nothing is final in politics.â€
“If somebody says he or she will do something, then it is still in the future tense. I am very confident that Danggo, a very senior and matured politician would not take any wrong decision in leaving the party,†Zenith said.
The Ranikor Block Congress Committee was dissolved on Tuesday, Zenith said that some communication was made to the party leadership in the block and unit level.
He said that action would be taken after collecting all inputs since dissolution of the block can be done only by the district committee, and nobody is authorized to dissolve.
Zenith also slammed Danggo over the demand to make Ranikor a Civil Sub Division saying the Ranikor MLA has only demanded for an Administrative unit at Ranikor from the previous Congress-led government.
“Because of the demand by the people of the area, now the demand is being made to make Ranikor a civil sub-division,†Zenith said,
He also claimed huge investment was made during the 2017-18 financial year especially in road sector and the road from Baghmara to Ranikor about 136 km was also sanctioned under SARDP-NE, though tender could not be called due to the delay in land acquisition.
The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government led by the NPP has assured that the Ranikor Administrative Unit would be upgraded to a Civil Sub Division soon.
Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong, and other minister visited Ranikor on Tuesday.
At the public meeting, Congress leaders and workers from all 65 primary units of the Ranikor Block Congress Committee resigned and joined the NPP in the presence of NPP state president, Dr W.R. Kharlukhi.
The Congress flag was also removed while the NPP flag was put up at the function as a mark of dissolving the Ranikor Block Congress Committee.
Reacting to this, Zenith said, “the party will take action as it is very serious offence. It is also a humiliation and insult to the party. In a democracy, every political party should be honoured, not only the Congress, but other political parties as well.â€
In the 60-member Assembly, the NPP has 20 MLAs while the Congress has 21 MLAs including Danggo.