SHILLONG, Oct 1: Leader of the Opposition Congress, Mukul Sangma on Friday diplomatically said that the possibility of him leaving the Congress if his grievances are not addressed by the AICC was “premature”.
Talking to this reporter he said he did not wish to be a victim of “presumption and assumption”.
He refused to categorically scotch the speculations about his joining TMC. “You do not have anybody telling a concrete story but then the whole narrative is generated. You have to wait for the time if it is coming from a horse’s mouth to give credibility. It is a question of giving weightage from the right source,” he said.
“Such speculations have been carried out earlier many times also although the stories are formatted in a different style. 13-14 MLAs have always being doing the round but the fact is that we have been able to insulate our team from that kind of poaching which was resorted to continuously and probably will continue till we face the 2023 elections,” he said.
Referring to the news reports, he said, “We have always said that there are certain issues which require to be resolved within the party but you have to understand the approach of doing things pertaining to internal matters and obviously nothing can always be within the four falls that is why some news is coming”.
“I have maintained that I should not be a victim of pessimism but challenges are there always and resolving issues requires certain amount of patience. I hope all that factors becomes possible and then it will end within the four wall of the party,” he said.
To a query on unconfirmed reports of him seeking an appointment with the Assembly Speaker on Friday, Sangma said, “I have always said that there have been attempts to influence our MLAs by many political parties. We are trying to insulate our MLAs and we have been successful in doing that unlike in other states where members of various political parties have become victims of poaching”.
“Here also there have been attempts but after that we have been able to insulate our colleagues in the CLP. That is something which has been considered as the most difficult job for us,” he added.
On allegations that he was trying to garner the support of party MLAs to join some other political party, Sangma said, “Internal party affairs do require patient hearing to all our concerns. I have to listen to my MLAs about their concern and apprehension and it is not my personal problem. When we talk about internal problem it revolves around the people in the party. If you follow what is happening in every district you will understand that”.
He maintained that internal differences should be resolved “within four walls” and “we will try our best” to achieve the same. Without elaborating he further said that there are various mechanism for the leadership to reach out, but did not wish to become a “victim of pessimism,” he remarked.
Pointing out that one of the senior Congress leaders who also a member of KHADC became candidate of other political party, he observed, “We did not expect this to happen but there are reasons for that and it is incumbent upon us to see that when we want to strengthen the party we do not land up with too many surprises as we come closer and closer to elections”.
He signed off by saying: “There are grievances within the party and some of them are already a victim of it”.