Two MDCs switch allegiance to Lamdibok
From Our Correspondent
JOWAI: There seems to be no end in sight to the political instability in the trouble-torn Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) even after election of Hambertus Nongtdu as the new Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader by the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).
Fresh trouble is brewing in the Council and the leadership crisis is back to haunt the ruling Congress party even before the Government through the District Council Affairs (DCA) could give its approval for the lifting of the Administrative Rule in JHADC.
The trouble erupted after two Congress MDCs — Mukroh-Barato MDC Rio Sten and Shangpung South MDC Wanbiang Shadap — who had, earlier, supported Nongtdu, have now switched allegiance to ousted Chief Executive Member Lamdibok Sumer and his group of 12 MDCs.
The two MDCs had earlier attended an MPCC meeting convened to elect Nongtdu as the CPP leader.
Confirming the switch in allegiance, one of the MDCs from the Hambertus group informed The Shillong Times on Sunday that Wanbiang Shadap and Rio Sten could not be contacted any more.
The MDC also informed that the Nongtdu group had convened an emergent meeting at the MDC Hostel on Sunday afternoon to discuss the issue of the two ‘missing’ MDCs.
Meanwhile, all attempts to contacts Shadap and Sten met with failure as their phones were switched off. Even Lamdibok Sumer’s phone was switched off.
Following the recent developments, the Hambertus Nongtdu group has been reduced to a minority with only 13 MDCs, while the Lamdibok Sumer group has gone one up with 14 MDCs including Sumer himself.
It may be mentioned here that Hambertus Nongtdu was on July 27 unanimously elected the new CPP leader of the JHADC at an MPCC meeting summoned by its president Friday Lyngdoh where 15 MDCs led by Hambertus Nongtdu including the now missing MDCs participated. However, the 12 MDCs led by Lamdibok Sumer remained absent from the meeting giving rise to speculations that a crisis was brewing within the Congress party in the JHADC.
For now, it is most certain that the Administrative Rule in the JHADC would continue for some more time until the party is able to resolve the leadership crisis.