SHILLONG: Former Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and senior Congress leader, Charles Pyngrope who is now seeking to contest the next Assembly election from Nongthymmai constituency, has claimed that there is no crisis in the party in the wake of some senior leaders leaving the party ranks.
Speaking to media here on Saturday, Pyngrope said that Congress was a large party and it was not a question of senior leaders but some individuals leaving the party.
“In Congress, everybody is a leader and everybody is a worker and if somebody wants to leave the party, it is up to them and nobody is indispensable,” Pyngrope told reporters.
Expressing his confidence that Congress would again win and would carry on governing the state, Pyngrope added that there was no reason to believe that the Congress was going through a crisis. “Our reading is we should be able to form the next Government,” he said.
The senior leader while stating that the BJP does not stand much here in Meghalaya also slammed two independent MLAs who have shifted their allegiance to BJP.
“One or two MLAs in Jaintia Hills have shifted their allegiance to BJP and they should be asked whether they have joined BJP for the benefit of the state or for their personal gains which is detrimental for the growth of the state, but at the end its individual’s choice,” he said.
Commenting about the recent alliance of HSPDP and UDP, he admitted that the regional parties had a hold in Khasi and Jaintia Hills but the how strong the alliance was couldn’t be answered now.
He also said that the alliance should first put into order the discontent within which is evident in different areas like Mawkynriew, Shella and Mylliem.
When asked about his chances to win the elections from Nongthymmai constituency, he said that he was confident earlier and he was confident even now and it all depended on the electorates.
He also said that it was for the people to decide what were the shortcomings and lacunae’s which existed in Nognthymmai constituency.
“We have our own ways of working and I am happy if somebody is working for the constituency. If people want me they will take me, if they don’t want me, I will sit at home,” Pyngrope said.