SHILLONG, April 21: State Congress president, Vincent H Pala said he is not in favour of tying up with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) or any other political party for the upcoming 2023 Assembly polls.
“We will reach nowhere if we are looking for a pre-poll alliance with any party. We have to think about the future of Congress in the state,” he told The Shillong Times on Thursday.
He said the All India Congress Committee will not take any decision on a pre-poll alliance without discussing it with the state leaders.
“The AICC will never impose. It will endorse any such move only if the state unit wants,” the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee chief said.
Admitting that he was upset when many MLAs left the party, he said Congress has slowly been strengthening its base.
“Many leaders want to join our party. We have got ticket aspirants in almost all the constituencies. We are getting good candidates even from the constituencies of the five suspended MLAs,” Pala said.
He criticised the National People’s Party and the BJP for their “modus operandi of luring leaders from other parties since they do not have the support of the people at the grassroots level. These parties have managed to lure some leaders, not loyal grassroots workers, he said.
Pala said the fate of the AITC appears grim with maany of its leaders planning to quit in many states.
“It looks like the AITC is on the verge of collapsing,” he added.
Recalling that the people had backed Congress in the last Assembly election, he said the people will repose their faith again in the party. “We got more time to regroup this time,” he said.
The BJP, on the other hand, said the speculated Congress-AITC association would be a “recipe for disaster” for the two parties.
“The AITC is a West Bengal-based party while Congress is losing ground in the entire country. I think they will vanish soon,” state BJP president, Ernest Mawrie said, adding the AITC and Congress will be put in their place after the 2023 polls.
“The AITC may will one or two seats in the Garo Hills but not in Khasi and Jaintia Hills. As for Congress, its leaders are running away to other parties,” he said.
