SHILLONG: Minister in charge of Information and Technology, Ampareen Lyngdoh has downplayed assumptions that Congress was on a downhill slide in Meghalaya, saying exodus of legislators from one party to another in search of greener pastures is a common phenomenon in the run-up to Assembly elections.
Speaking to media persons here on the sidelines of a winter travel exhibition on Wednesday, Lyngdoh said Congress was a party which wanted to keep the folk together.
“However, it was a matter of choice for legislators to join 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,” the minister said.
She said the legislators who moved to other parties might have realised that the incumbent chief minister was performing well and hence they may never become chief minister. “So they moved on to other parties in the hope of becoming a chief minister,” Lyngdoh said.
According to the minister, it was not essential for politicians to be in the hot seat all the time when it came to serving people.
“During the elections everybody thinks others are devils and themselves angels,” she said.
Stating that peace was a priority for Congress, Lyngdoh said people’s safety was also an important factor for the party.
On the prospects in Laitumkhrah-Malki constituency which she has been representing since 2008, Lyngdoh said she tried her best to serve the constituency.
“I have no regrets in the past 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 focused on facilitating development, Lyngdoh said the Congress-led government in Meghalaya had done quite well as far as the road sector was concerned and even the health department was much better now.
She also predicted that all the sitting MLAs in the state would do well in the elections.
