By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Former Chief Minister and UDP leader J Dringwell Rymbai has decided to quit ‘active politics’ after rendering his services for 25 years in the State’s political arena.
The veteran politician stated that he has taken this decision after realizing that he would not be able to continue to serve the people due to his old age.
“In these 25 years of active politics I have not been able to give enough time to my family. I also feel it is also time for me to spend some quality time with my family who has been supporting me in my mission to serve the people,” Rymbai said here on Friday.
When asked if he would continue his association with any political party, the former Chief Minister said that the question of associating with any political party does not arise as he has decided to quit active politics.
“I would also not personally campaign for any candidate for the upcoming 2013 Assembly election but I would definitely vote for the candidate who has the support of my well wishers,” Rymbai said.
When asked whether his son would be contesting the election in his place, the veteran politician said that none of his family members has any aspiration of following in his footsteps and entering into politics.
He also added that it was a blunder on the part of the UDP to announce his name as the party candidate from Jirang constituency in Ri Bhoi district.
“I have decided not to contest elections anymore,” Rymbai said, adding that he was surprised to know from the media that his name had been cleared by the UDP after the meeting of the party’s state election committee on Monday.
When reporters drew his attention to the fact that there are many politicians of his age or even older than him but still actively involved in the state politics, the former Chief Minister said that he cannot comment about other politicians, but on his part he wanted to pave the way for younger candidates to take over.
Rymbai also informed that the election committee of the Jirang UDP circle had considered the names of two party members — Peter Thangkhiew and Wonderful Lapang — to contest from Jirang constituency.
‘Out of the two names, the Jirang election committee circle has recommended the name of Wonderful Lapang to the UDP district election committee for final approval,” he said.
Rymbai, who was in the early phase of his life a high school teacher, entered active politics in the late 80s. He contested the Assembly election in 1983 for the first time on a Congress ticket but lost.
He again contested the Assembly elections in 1988 from the Congress and was elected as MLA from Jirang. Later he was nominated as Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly.
In October 1993, he was elected Speaker after retaining his Jirang seat in the Assembly elections.
He was successful in retaining his seat in subsequent state elections in 1998, 2003 and 2008.
Rymbai, who was earlier in the Congress party, had on January 4, 2008 resigned from the party and joined the UDP after he was denied party ticket by the Congress leadership. In the election held in March 2008 Rymbai convincingly defeated Congress candidate William Mynsong.
While in the Congress, Rymbai was regarded as a loyalist of former Chief Minister DD Lapang. After dissidence over Lapang’s leadership in 2006, he replaced Lapang as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya on June 15, 2006.
He served as Chief Minister for only eight months till March 2007 when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi decided to bring back Lapang following a demand from his supporters who wanted a change of leadership in the State.