SHILLONG, Nov 12: Former Congress veteran and NPP leader, Donwa Dethwelson Lapang is not going to return to his former party, a close aide of the Chief Adviser to the government said on Friday.
The development comes in the wake of a meeting between Lapang and Deputy Chief Minister and NPP national vice president, Prestone Tynsong at the former’s residence in Lachumiere on Friday.
According to the source, Tynsong arrived at Lapang’s residence at around 11 am and held a meeting with the veteran leader that lasted for more than two hours.
Though the details of the meeting could not be ascertained, Lapang is said to have assured Tynsong that he would not go back to his former party.
The source added that Lapang took the decision in view of his age. “It will not send a right message to the people if he shifts allegiance to another party now,” Lapang’s aide said.
Interestingly, another reason behind Lapang’s decision not to rejoin the Congress was due to the prevalent internal rift in the party.
The aide also admitted that several leaders of the grand old party including state party chief, Vincent H. Pala are eager to see Lapang back in the party. The Mahila Congress Pradesh Committee had recently urged the former Congress leader to rejoin the party.
“However, their approach was wrong since they addressed the letter to the MPCC chief instead to Lapang. They should have addressed the letter to Lapang and requested him to return to the party,” the aide said.
Attempts to contact the Deputy CM for his comment on his meeting with Lapang failed as his mobile phone was switched off.
It may be mentioned that Tynsong had earlier dismissed the MPCC chief’s claim that Lapang will return to the grand old party.
“He (Lapang) is very much with us and now he is old. He has already told me that he will never leave the NPP,” Tynsong had stated.