Pala reduced Congress to zero in state: UDP

SHILLONG, Oct 20: Home Minister and United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Lahkmen Rymbui on Thursday made a blistering attack on state Congress president Vincent H Pala stating that the latter has reduced the grand old party to “zero” in the state through sheer mismanagement.
Pala, who is also the Shillong MP, had earlier accused the UDP and the Home Minister of facilitating drug cartels.
Rymbui asked the Congress leader to introspect why all his colleagues ran away as soon as he returned to state politics.
“He lost all the MLAs and also the prospective candidates,” Rymbui said.
He reminded Pala that Congress was the single largest party in the state in 2018. He said it is unbecoming of the MP to make allegations without understanding the ground reality.
Rymbui rubbished Pala’s allegation that the UDP is allowing drug cartels to operate. He said the seizure of drugs was negligible in the state from 2010-18 but it went up after 2018 when more people were arrested and more charge sheets filed.
Rymbui said many had ditched the Congress soon after Pala took over as the party’s state chief as they knew who Pala is.
The MP had claimed the UDP is the most corrupt party in the state. When asked about it, Rymbui said he would not like to react to the president of a party with zero MLAs.
“Let him increase the numbers. He should talk in the Assembly but they do not have even one MLA. Why should I reply to a zero and non-existent party?” Rymbui said.
Continuing with his tirade, he said the Congress will be reduced to “minus zero” if Pala continues to be there.