SHILLONG: After building the Congress party for 34 years, the veteran party leader representing Mawkyrwat, Rowell Lyngdoh, has decided to join NPP to contest the 2018 polls.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Lyngdoh said on Wednesday that it was due to the humiliation by the Congress that his supporters wanted him to contest the election again from a different party.
Lyngdoh said while many of his supporters had already joined NPP, he would join the party at an appropriate time to contest the upcoming polls.
In the past, the party had issued showcause notice to Lyngdoh for criticising the style and functioning of the chief minister and lack of proactive steps on the part of party president DD Lapang to address the concerns of the aggrieved legislators.
Lyngdoh said he was first dropped from the post of deputy chief minister and later the party dissolved the Mawkyrwat Block Congress Committee, adding that these actions were examples of the ill-treatment of the party towards him.
After the dissolution of the block unit, the party supporters led by Congress leader Diverland Lyngdoh, who is Rowell’s nephew, joined NPP.
“I was prominent among those who worked hard for the spread of the party in West Khasi Hills and subsequently in South West Khasi Hills since I joined the party in 1983,” he recalled.
The senior leader said that though the people liked the Congress, the main stumbling block is the leadership.
Lyngdoh had earlier said the AICC did not listen to the grievances of the legislators regarding change of leadership, which led to the present crisis in the party.
After Lyngdoh refused to apply for party ticket from Mawkyrwat, the Congress is planning to allot ticket to Cornes Sohshang.
However, Lyngdoh feels that Sohshang will not be any threat to him.
“I may have to face strong contenders from other parties and not from the Congress though there are many supporters of the Congress in Mawkyrwat,” he added.
