SHILLONG: Congress legislator and Opposition Chief Whip Process T Sawkmie on Wednesday said that the party’s MLAs will have to think twice before taking any risk of joining other parties.
He made the comment while referring to former Congress leader Martin M Danggo, who lost in the Ranikor bye-poll last year after leaving the party and contesting on NPP ticket.
He said all the 19 legislators of the party were together and committed to playing a constructive role as opposition members.
Sawkmie was reacting to the claims made by the NPP leader and cabinet minister Sniawbhalang Dhar that eight to nine Congress MLAs had expressed their interest to join the NPP which is leading the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance. Admitting that the Congress is going through difficult times after losing in the last Lok Sabha elections, Sawkmie added that as opposition MLAs, there is no harm in meeting the chief minister and ministers.
“We meet them for development or just to have a cup of tea but that does not mean that we will join other parties,” he said.
He also said that with the NPP having 21 MLAs and the support of its coalition partners like the UDP, HSPDP, PDF and BJP, they would not require the support of the Congress MLAs.
” If the NPP, which once had only two MLAs in the 60-member Assembly and was out of power for so many years, there is nothing wrong with the Congress being out of power,” he said.
Expressing confidence that the Congress will come back to power in 2023, the Congress leader said that many leaders will also approach the party for tickets.
According to him, the Congress in the state had done quite well in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
