SHILLONG: Mawryngkneng MLA, David Nongrum who is all set to the contest the upcoming Assembly polls on a Congress ticket, has slammed the defectors saying they have left the party as they want to be leaders themselves.
Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of a programme where he handed over Rs 3 lakhs to Mawlynrei Presbyterian L P school for construction of the school building, Nongrum said that the leaders who were now criticising the leadership of the Congress were part and parcel of the party and the Government for so many years.
“I think the main reason for their defection is that they want to be leader themselves,” he said, adding that if the defectors had issues with the leadership, they should have left the party right when the Government was formed.
Meanwhile, Nongrum informed that he would officially join Congress probably in the first week of January even as he added that he was always a Congress man though he was denied a ticket in the 2013 Assembly polls. He informed that his father was also an MLA from the Congress.
Responding to a query, Nongrum said that he was approached by different political parties but he decided to join Congress since it was a secular party besides it being capable of providing good governance.
Expressing optimism that the Congress will come back to power in 2018 Assembly polls, he said that the current situation in the country under the rule of BJP had forced people to regret their decision and this was indicated in the Gujarat polls where Congress party did very well.
“Other states will follow soon as Congress party gives us the right to speak, right to practice our religion and right to do what we wish to do,” he told reporters.
Later, Nongrum also inspected different internal roads of his constituency as it would provide an easy access to the farmer’s community with the markets.
