SHILLONG: Meghalaya Congress has asserted that the party is a united house as it is striving to ensure win of its candidates in both the parliamentary seats in Meghalaya.
The statement came from Congress leader and Opposition Chief Whip, PT Sawkmie in the wake of reports about division within the party coming to the fore regarding allotment of tickets for Lok Sabha polls in Shillong and Tura.
At least two affected candidates, HDR Lyngdoh and John Kharshiing, have written to party president Celestine Lyngdoh to reconvene the meeting of the election committee to ensure fair and transparent discussion for recommending candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya.
However, PT Sawkmie on Tuesday said that demands of the candidates to reconvene the meeting of the election committee were their personal stand.
He also said that party would work unitedly to make sure that Congress would win both the seats of Tura and Shillong even as he added , “Congress is a big family and each and every leader as well as party worker will put their best efforts to win both the seats.”
While sitting Shillong MP Vincent Pala is the candidate for Shillong, Mukul Sangma, who did not apply for ticket, has been named party candidate for Tura. The Meghalaya Pradesh Election Committee (MPEC) had on February 28 recommended the names of candidates to AICC for approval.
However, the letter of both Lyngdoh and Kharshiing said there was no strategy adopted to streamline the process of seeking the best candidates for both Shillong and Tura.
The letter also said the MPEC till date had not sought the views of block and district Congress committees, frontal organisations, MLAs, MDCs in the respective parliamentary constituencies even though the opponents are opting for a consensus candidate.