From CK Nayak
New Delhi: The Congress party is finding itself in a catch 22 situation with the State unit and the AICC at loggerheads over the ‘block-level elections’ for selecting candidates even more than a year before the Assembly polls are due in Meghalaya.
The Executive Committee of the MPCC in a meeting last September had decided to hold elections at the block level to identify candidates. But the election process, which itself has raised several questions, have almost declared the party nominees without getting any sanction from the AICC.
By the time the AICC finally woke up to the situation and directed the MPCC to stop the exercise, the elections in Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills were already over, party sources said.
“How can we stop the elections which are already over?” a top State party functionary wondered, while expressing surprise over the late reaction by the AICC.
Incidentally, the AICC became aware of the situation when a Cabinet minister and a party functionary had a head-on collision over selection of the candidate in one constituency. A complaint was submitted to the AICC through one of the key State party office bearer based in New Delhi, following which party high command started cracking the whip.
The AICC was aghast at reports that some of the ‘elected’ candidates were not even primary members of the party and in some cases the candidates had recently joined the Congress. Some even belonged to the UDP which is the main opposition in the Khasi-Jaintia region. (Contd on P-10)
AICC responded…
(Contd from P-1) Problems have not cropped up in those constituencies where there are sitting MLAs since these legislators are likely to be re-nominated. But there were tussle in the constituencies which have undergone changes following the delimitation of constituencies.
The situation was compounded since the party president, Friday Lyngdoh, remains hospitalized far away from the State. The decision to go for the elections was taken in the meeting headed by him.
When contacted, AICC general secretary in charge of Meghalaya, Dr Dhaniram Shandil, told The Shillong Times that the elections for identifying candidates was wrong and hence the MPCC was asked to put a stop to it.
“We will settle the matter and deal with the situation suitably,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the State unit had failed to adhere to a previous communiqué from Dr Shandil’s deputy, Sanjay Bapna, asking it to stop the so called polls for selection of party candidates. However, the State unit not only ignored the communiqué but also defended the decision in public which further infuriated the AICC, forcing Dr Shandil to send a fresh letter to the MPCC working president Deborah Marak to stop the exercise.
Problems have not cropped up in those constituencies where there are sitting MLAs since these legislators are likely to be re-nominated. But there were tussle in the constituencies which have undergone changes following the delimitation of constituencies.
The situation was compounded since the party president, Friday Lyngdoh, remains hospitalized far away from the State. The decision to go for the elections was taken in the meeting headed by him.
When contacted, AICC general secretary in charge of Meghalaya, Dr Dhaniram Shandil, told The Shillong Times that the elections for identifying candidates was wrong and hence the MPCC was asked to put a stop to it.
“We will settle the matter and deal with the situation suitably,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the State unit had failed to adhere to a previous communiqué from Dr Shandil’s deputy, Sanjay Bapna, asking it to stop the so called polls for selection of party candidates. However, the State unit not only ignored the communiqué but also defended the decision in public which further infuriated the AICC, forcing Dr Shandil to send a fresh letter to the MPCC working president Deborah Marak to stop the exercise.