SHILLONG: The weak leadership at the Centre and the state may force many Congress MLAs to leave the party.
Party sources said on Wednesday that though the performance of the Congress improved in Maharashtra and Haryana elections, there is little hope for the Congress members that the party will form the government at the Centre within the next ten years.
According to a party leader, what is alarming is the dismal performance of the party in the state elections and bypolls under the leadership of CLP leader Mukul Sangma.
If there is a lot of criticism against the Congress central leadership which resulted in Rahul Gandhi relinquishing the post of the president, the state leadership is still on denial mode as far as the elections in the state are concerned, a Congress member said, adding that the CLP leader has not taken any moral responsibility for the defeat of the party in the past several elections.
The party members are also irked over the different views of the party regarding Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act. While the CLP leader wanted the Act to be immediately implemented, the Congress members present at the all-party meeting on Wednesday favoured the amended Act as suggested by the government to check influx.
As far as Shella bypoll is concerned, Mukul had blamed ‘match fixing’ for the defeat of the Congress and called for post mortem and some corrective measures.
The deal that failed
Party sources said that at the last hour, after sensing defeat, the Congress candidate Batyngshain Ryngnga met Grace Mary Kharpuri on October 19 and decided to extend support.
However, since the supporters of the Congress were less, Grace did not want to accept them as she wanted more voters from the Congress to ensure her victory.
As the stalemate continued till the polling day, many confused electorate voted for UDP candidate resulting in his victory margin going up.
Sources added that while the survey team comprising three legislators HM Shangpliang, Ampareen Lyngdoh and Mohendro Rapsang did not prefer Batyngshain Ryngnga, the state Congress leadership decided to field him.
According to party sources, Grace was the first one to take the form to apply for the party ticket followed by former bureaucrat W. Khyllep.
Ryngnga applied for the party ticket only on the last day following pressure from the state Congress leadership.
At the end, Congress lost the bypoll and also an MDC as Grace left the Congress, a party leader added.
