SHILLONG: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has taken a dig at the senior Congress leaders, including Prestone Tynsong, who have shifted allegiance to the National People’s Party.
Talking to newsmen here on Wednesday, Sangma termed the defectors habitual dissidents, saying the party is happy that it has slowly got rid of such elements.
Sangma said their defection to other parties was not a surprise as the party knew who was going to join which party and what was going to happen.
“When you have people who have positioned themselves to betray the party, it will have some complications. Had we worked collectively and coherently with complete dedication to the party, we would have been stronger,” he said.
Sangma said that under the prevailing political scenario in the nation, there were people looking at greener pastures by assuming and presuming that they stand to gain more as individuals.
“As we knew it, we were prepared for it,” Sangma said.
Responding to a query about the contention of the leaders who were vocal against the chief minister, Sangma said the leaders who left the party were the ones who tried to topple the state government on several occasion and they were involved in moving a no-confidence motion against the government and even the speaker.
“They were acting as agents of political parties and the Opposition and they were habitual dissidents. They have been dissidents all these years and taking the whole state to ransom,” he told reporters.
He further said it’s good for the party to get rid of such elements, who for their self-centric interest would go to any extent to create a situation which is not good for the state and its people.
Meanwhile, Sangma has also claimed that the National People’s Party (NPP) will remain in single digits when the state goes for elections next year. He also said he had received the survey report of other political parties.
The chief minister said the Congress would form a stable government and the party did not mind the vacuum created in one or two constituencies.
Asked about the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which criticised the party despite being an ally in the government, Sangma said it was common for political parties to criticise the government when elections approached.
He recalled that even regional parties in the past criticized the government when it was in power.
