Revamping Congress after recent Assembly polls debacle
SHILLONG: With the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) hardly initiating any activities over the years, there is an uphill task for the Committee headed by MPCC president DD Lapang in the wake of debacle for the Congress all over the country.
Lapang has been holding the charge of Chairman of NECCC since 2003, and there was hardly any pro-active steps on the part of NECCC to improve the party’s image in the Northeast and to take development issues.
After the NECCC was restructured, the last meeting of the Committee was held in Shillong in February, 2012 attended by former NECCC chief and its current adviser SC Jamir chaired by Lapang.
During the meeting, it was decided that Lapang and Jamir would take the initiative of meeting the Congress chief ministers of the region to discuss issues pertaining to law and order, settlement of inter-state boundary disputes and insurgency. However, there was no follow up on these decisions by NECCC which is led by a lot of functionaries from all the Northeastern states including Sikkim.
While Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanwala is the co-chairman of NECCC, there are as many as 13 general secretaries, three secretaries in charge of different states and other matters, one office secretary, one treasurer and one spokesperson in the re-structured committee.
A state Congress leader said on Sunday that with the setback for the Congress in various states during elections, it is time for NECCC to revamp itself and accelerate its activities.
Among the eight Northeastern states including Sikkim, currently Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have Congress or Congress led Governments.
Party insiders believe that with the current anti-Congress trend, the remaining Congress ruled states may get affected unless corrective steps are taken.
Concerned over the matter, Lapang has already met the AICC top functionaries Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi last week.
Rahul Gandhi while reiterating immediate need to strengthen the party in North East, has directed the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) to work for expansion of the party base in Northeastern region.
The party president Sonia Gandhi during her meeting with the former Meghalaya Chief Minister on Friday also stressed on strengthening the party.