Aware of rebels in party: CM

SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said on Thursday he is aware that some Congress legislators are planning to quit the Congress before the 2018 Assembly elections.
“If the chief minister is not aware of what is happening then he would not be able to sit on the chief minister’s chair for so long… let me be very blunt,” Sangma told reporters.
The chief minister said there are no shortcuts in a democratic system.
“Some people look at shortcuts to be in power and control the state and if they can’t do that, they find another way thinking that they can find it, but in a democracy, aise nehi hota aur hoga nehi (this does not happen and this won’t happen) as the people in the State are good,” he said.
Sangma also sounded optimistic that people who have to vote for the Congress would vote for the party even if the party puts up new faces. “We are yet to understand that in a democracy it is a team and not individuals. The whole approach to governance is guided by the principle and ideology,” he said. When asked to comment on the rumour that he may not contest from Ampati in 2018, Sangma said, “When you generate a gossip, that gossip becomes a topic. Now whether I will contest from Ampati or not that will be known only when the election comes.”