SHILLONG: Senior Congress leader and former Assembly speaker Charles Pyngrope has downplayed the fear that retirement of senior leaders from electoral politics will adversely affect the party in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The statement came from the Congress leader after as many as three senior leaders — DD Lapang, RC Laloo and Roshan Warjri — decided not to contest the upcoming polls.
“There is no dearth of leaders in the party though we will definitely miss the senior leaders with their experience and guidance. But at the end of the day, you have to be replaced and there is no way you can stop the process,” Pyngrope told reporters here on Tuesday.
Pyngrope, who will contest the elections next year, also substantiated his claims by saying the party has received multiple applications from almost all the constituencies even as he added that in Mawsynram constituency, PN Syiem has been replaced by HM Shangpliang.
When asked about the growing presence of BJP in Meghalaya, he said it is a “normal process” for any party to grow and the democratic system allows every political party to grow.
“But how long they will last is a question,” he added.
Responding to a query about Nongthymmai constituency from where he will contest as a Congress candidate, he said he has not stopped working since 2013 as he still connects with people. However, he added that there are multiple issues and there is a need to find ways and means to generate employment not by going through government jobs but by making people self-employed.
According to Pyngrope, it is not the MLA schemes but the utilisation and distribution of them wisely play a major role.
“We have had multiple MLAs who lost the elections despite having MLA schemes and the scheme is not a major factor which would decide the course but it is the ultimate deliverance and the manner in which schemes are distributed matter the most,” he added.
He also said he was confident of winning the elections.
