Ampareen looks at life beyond Cong

SHILLONG, Oct 13: Suspended MLA from East Shillong, Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said she continues to love Congress since the party is in her blood.
“I have been associated with the party since I was 13 or 14 years old. But why were the five of us rejected? Love is two-way traffic,” she said when asked about her political future with Congress projecting a candidate against her.
She said she will have to find a way of contesting the upcoming election with pride, honour and humility as the people want her to. “We are still Congress MLAs. The media have been following the fate of the five of us. You already know who Congress is fielding from the East Shillong constituency,” Lyngdoh said.
She said she can do nothing about Congress disintegrating after rejecting them. “Obviously, I cannot take an early retirement and people still want me to contest (the polls),” she added.
Lyngdoh said the five suspended Congress MLAs are waiting to complete their term “as we still have many projects that need to see the light of day”.
The people, she claimed, have more or less given their verdict but the mandate almost five years ago does not allow the five to announce their political future.
She referred to the petition filed against the 12 MLAs who quit Congress for violating the Tenth Schedule. “But everything was found to be in order,” she said.
Lyngdoh declined to comment on state Congress president, Vincent H Pala’s decision to contest the upcoming election from the Sutnga-Saipung constituency. “I will only say that I respect the Congress president,” she said.
She said constantly attacking the National People’s Party will not work for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Meghalaya.
“We need to remember where the TMC stems from and that state right now is in a lot of turmoil. If you are pointing a finger at a party in another state when your own party is facing the heat at home, you need to be careful,” Lyngdoh said.
She doubted if the TMC strategy will impact the outcome of the 2023 Assembly polls.