Congress rules out rift in party

SHILLONG: The state Congress has asserted that the party is a united house as it prepares to throw its weight behind its two Lok Sabha candidates to ensure their victory in the April 11 elections.
The assertion of unity comes in the wake of reports of division within the Congress party over allotment of tickets for the two seats in the state — Shillong and Tura.
Congress leader and Opposition Chief Whip PT Sawkmie on Tuesday, however, brushed aside the reports and said the party was together.
The buzz that all may not be well within the party surfaced after seniors and aspiring candidates HDR Lyngdoh and John Kharshiing jointly wrote to MPCC president, Celestine Lyngdoh, asking to reconvene the meeting of the election committee to ensure fair and transparent discussion for recommending candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats.
Sawkmie said that the demand to reconvene the meeting of the election committee by the two leaders was their personal opinion.
He also said that the party will work unitedly to make sure it wins both the Tura and Shillong seats while pointing out that the “Congress is a big family” and each and every leader and party worker will make their best efforts.
While sitting Shillong MP Vincent Pala is the candidate for Shillong, Mukul Sangma, who did not apply for the ticket, has been named for Tura.
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Election Committee (MPCEC) had on February 28 recommended the names of candidates to AICC for approval.
However, the letter of Lyngdoh and Kharshiing said no proper strategy was adopted to streamline the process of seeking the best candidates for both Shillong and Tura.
The letter also said the MPCEC had not sought the views of block and district Congress committees, frontal organisations, MLAs and MDCs in the respective Assembly constituencies despite the fact that rivals were fielding consensus candidates.