From CK Nayak
New Delhi: After a brief lull, dissident activities is raising its head again in the Meghalaya Congress with Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and his present bête noire MPCC president D.D. Lapang meeting newly appointed AICC general secretary in charge of the hill state, C.P. Joshi, here on Tuesday.
The chief minister is already in the national capital and Lapang is arriving here on Monday. MPCC working president and a known dissident minister Deborah C. Marak is also likely to join Lapang, sources said on Sunday.
There is widespread feeling in the Meghalaya Congress that the party high command has not been taking keen interest in solving the current resentment against Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, which according to the legislators can go out of hand. Following this, Joshi who is also in charge of Assam, was given additional charge of Meghalaya and other NE states.
When contacted, Joshi said he will first take the ‘feedback’ from both the chief minister and the MPCC president. After meeting both he is likely to make his maiden trip to the hill state.
A section of dissidents feel that if there is no emergency treatment by the high command, the State Congress may go the Arunachal Pradesh way. There is conflicting views between Mukul and Lapang on the state of affairs in the party and the government in Meghalaya.
While the former feels ‘everything is under control’ the later insists that there are problems both within the party and the government over the way the chief minister is functioning.
The legislators are also deeply worried over the series of defeat of Congress starting from Nongstoin assembly by-poll to elections in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and the latest drubbing in the Tura Lok Sabha by-poll.
The dissidents feel that unless the leadership is changed, the Congress cannot come back to power in the next Assembly polls which is less than two years away.
To add to the party’s worries, the Congress which is not in power at the Centre is losing one state after another including the latest one in next door Assam.
BJP wresting powers in Assam for the first time in the history of the state has dealt a big blow to few remaining Congress ruled states, including Meghalaya.