By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Opposition Meghalaya People’s Forum (MPF) is toying with the idea of fielding former Home Minister RG Lyngdoh to contest the Shillong seat in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.
“We have approached him and he is willing to contest,” a UDP legislator said on Thursday.
The initiative was taken by the main Opposition party, UDP.
It is yet to be known whether the move will get the support of HSPDP as the party is not part of the UDP-led MPF.
Lyngdoh, a former Congress leader, was suspended for six years from the Congress in June 2008 for criticizing the AICC leadership during the political crisis at that time.
Though the Congress was in favour of fielding Lyngdoh in the last Lok Sabha polls in 2009, the plan did not materialize since there was objection from some top leaders of the Congress at that point of time.
Party sources said that Lyngdoh, with his clean image in Meghalaya politics, will provide an alternate to the current Shillong representative Vincent H Pala of the Congress.
The Congress circles are undecided on their candidate with the eroding clout of the sitting Shillong MP.
Pala was under criticism for trying to field rebel candidates to defeat the official party nominees in the just concluded Assembly elections, which however, was denied by the MP in the past.
After the lone Rajya Sabha seat went to Congress leader Wansuk Syiem, there are many aspirants from the party desiring to contest the Shillong Lok Sabha seat in 2014.
