NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: DD Lapang refused to withdraw his resignation despite the AICC and state leaders’ requests.
Congress MLAs from Nongpoh and Umroi, Mayralborn Syiem and George Lyngdoh, respectively, met Lapang at Meghalaya House in Delhi on Sunday. Scores of his supporters also made desperate calls to the veteran leader to reconsider his decision but in vain.
Several leaders from the AICC also tried to talk to Lapang and persuaded him to take back his resignation. But the former chief minister remained elusive.
Lapang is arriving in Shillong on Monday. He is likely to address the media here and speak on his resignation.
Shillong MP Vincent H Pala was with Lapang for hours trying to persuade him but the senior leader did not agree to his appeals.
Meanwhile, in Shillong, Congress MLA from Mawlai Process T Sawkmie said Lapang would not have left the party had it been in power.
“I am not surprised as it happens in politics all over the world. If the party is not in power, there will be people who would leave and join another party,” he told reporters on Saturday.
The MLA said the Congress would have never sidelined any leader and it respects every member.
The Congress appointed him as chairman of State Planning Board when he lost the election and gave ticket for Lok Sabha election, he added.
To a query, Sawkmie said former chief minister Mukul Sangma “respects Lapang and he was chief advisor to MUA-II government, which showed that the party does not sideline veteran leaders”.
Denying that there was any rift in the party, Sawkmie maintained that Lapang’s resignation would not affect the party in the Lok Sabha and the district council elections in 2019.
“The Congress is a very old party and it has workers and supporters who are strong… Lapang left the party on his own and we did not expel him and if we expel him, it would have had an effect,” he said.
