Decision on candidate for Shillong seat after session
SHILLONG: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) screening committee will meet in New Delhi on Monday to decide on the candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat, while the discussion on the candidate for the Shillong parliamentary seat will be held after the conclusion of the ongoing final session of the 15th Lok Sabha on February 21.
Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma and MPCC president DD Lapang, who are members of the screening committee, are scheduled to attend the meeting in Delhi.
The committee was earlier scheduled to meet on Thursday last, had to postpone the same after differences crept up on the choice of candidate for the Shillong seat.
Besides sitting MP Vincent Pala, Congress leaders John Kharshiing and Charles Pyngrope were in the first list of ticket aspirants. However, the sudden entry of Government Chief Whip Ronnie Lyngdoh has complicated the selection process.
Following a recent meeting of the MPCC election committee, Ronnie’s name was also forwarded to the AICC for a final decision.
In Tura, however, the situation is clearer despite eight contenders vying for the party ticket. Zenith Sangma, Cabinet Minister and brother of Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma and Daryl William Cheran Momin, the grandson of Meghalaya’s first Chief Minister Captain Williamson Sangma, are the frontrunners for the ticket.
Though the Congress leadership in the State is yet to clear the confusion related to allotment of ticket for the Shillong seat, the presence of a strong anti-Pala lobby within the State Congress may bolster Ronnie prospects who is being projected as an alternate to Pala.
Ronnie is also said to have earned the support of the Chief Minister after the former had defended the stand of the Government on the issue of ILP during the Assembly session in October last year.