SHILLONG: Former Congress leader RG Lyngdoh said the future of Congress was at the hands of young faces who had the responsibility to make the party more relevant following the desertion of the party by many veteran Congress leaders, the recent one being DD Lapang.
Asked, whether the exodus of Congress leaders is due to leadership issues in the party, Lyngdoh said there were some leadership and discipline issues in the party that needed be addressed.
“But for your stomach to function properly, you need to purge it sometimes. So may be this is just a purging that will make the party better,” he said.
Reckoning that Lapang must have been under a lot of pressure before taking the step, Lyngdoh said, “For a man who has been so long in one party, to decide now at the fag-end of his career and his life that he is going to leave the party was not an easy decision for him.”
Stating that his resignation will adversely affect the party, he observed that the resignation of senior persons such as Lapang would further weakens the party and he hoped that the party rectified whatever had gone wrong.
He said there must be reasons that made Lapang leave the party.
“Something very very wrong must have troubled him. I hope there are genuine reasons that affect the people,” he said.
Asked, if he had any plan to return to politics or to Congress, Lyngdoh said, “No plan to return to politics and no plan to go back to Congress.”