GUWAHATI: Former Cabinet minister Ronnie V Lyngdoh has said the emergence of Congress as the single largest party in Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council and narrow losses in some constituencies bear testimony to voter confidence in the party.
Congress won 10 of the 29 seats in KHADC, but could get only four in Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Sunday, a day after the results of the ADC polls were declared, Lyngdoh who defeated Teilinia S Thangkhiew of Peoples’ Democratic Front by as many as 2115 votes in Mylliem, said, “If you see, in most of the constituencies, Congress lost by narrow margins. This means that people have not rejected the party.”
Lyngdoh said that it was but natural for people to vote for the ruling alliance, a trend that was seen in the recent Assam panchayat elections, which saw the ruling BJP sweep the rural polls.
“Also, the fact that there are more MLAs (of the ruling alliance) meant that people were swayed to believe that they should vote for MDCs belonging to the party in power,” he said.
The Congress leader substantiated the trend by saying that with legislators having at least four more years in power, voters, particularly in the rural areas, are also wooed by schemes that candidates of the ruling party can potentially bring to their constituencies.
On his personal accomplishment, Lyngdoh said, “People have confidence in the work I had done as MLA for the past 10 years.”
He attributed his defeat in the Assembly elections in 2018 to public misconception on the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) building byelaws.
“In the rural areas, there was fear of encroachment by MUDA, which was not there as building byelaws were applicable only up to Sixth Mile in Upper Shillong. When I was the urban affairs minister, I had entrusted the implementation of the Meghalaya building byelaws to the district council. But the party which was in power in the district council never implemented the building byelaws,” he said.
On the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government not yet taking a stand on its ties with BJP, Lyngdoh said it only smacked of hypocrisy on the part of the ruling alliance.
“How can a party say that it is with the people and its sentiments and yet work with one which is hell-bent on bringing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) if it comes to power at the Centre again,” he said.
The former minister said that CAB would only spell doom for the indigenous population of the region as “outsiders” would outnumber them.
