SHILLONG: Urban Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh has downplayed the assumptions that Congress was on downhill in Meghalaya saying exodus of legislators from one party to another party in search for greener pastures is a common phenomenon around the Assembly elections.
Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Lyngdoh said that Congress was a party which wanted to keep the folk together but added that it was a matter of choice for the legislators whether they want to go in or come out of any political party.
“There are legislators who felt they no longer want to be in the party and they moved on for new pastures and it is a matter of somebody’s choice,” Lyngdoh said.
She said that the legislators who moved to other parties might have realised that since the incumbent Chief Minister was performing they may never become Chief Minister and so they moved on to other parties in the hope of becoming Chief Minister.
“While serving the people, it does not mean that you have to be in the hot seat all the time,” she told reporters while adding that everybody during the elections think others to be devil and themselves angel
Stating that peace is a priority of the Congress, Lyngdoh added that people’s safety was also an important factor for the Congress party.
On being asked about the prospects in Laitumkhrah-Malki constituency which she is representing since the 2008 Assembly elections, Lyngdoh said that she had tried her best to serve the constituency
“I have no regrets in the last five years and if people find me fit to serve them, I will do that with a smiling face against all odds and controversies,” She said.
Maintaining that Congress is a secular party which is focused on facilitating development, Lyngdoh said that Congress-led Government in Meghalaya had done quite well as far as road sector was concerned and even the Health department was much better now and it still required hand holding.
She also prophesised that all the sitting MLAs in the state would do well this time.