WILLIAMNAGAR, Jan 29: Former minister and Congress candidate for the Williamnagar constituency, Deborah C Marak on Sunday said she was not only confident of her own success in February 27 election but was sure of the party winning at least 10 seats from the Garo Hills region.
Marak, who has been extensively campaigning over the past few months in her constituency, insisted that Congress would beat the odds against it.
“We are rebuilding and doing fine. We have our grassroots workers, our BCCs, DCCs and the PCC that have been working extra hard to make up for the lost time. We expect to win at least 10 seats in the coming elections. Our preparations are okay for now. You have to understand that Congress never won all 24 seats from Garo Hills so we have been honest with our expectations,” she said.
On her own chances, the Congress leader said she would not have fought the elections if she was not confident of winning. But she admitted the competition from the NPP’s Marcuise Marak and TMC’s Alphonsush Marak would be tough.
She claimed that the support for Congress, even from workers of rival parties, has been swelling by the day.
“We have been getting party workers from the NPP and the TMC coming to extend their support for me on a daily basis. They are not only supporting but assuring me of gathering more support for my campaign. It seems the present MLA has not lived up to the expectations he had set for the people and the people are feeling disillusioned,” she said.
The Congress candidate said Marcuise Marak did nothing new for the constituency as its NPP legislator.
“There is so much that needs to be done in Williamnagar constituency that it will take days to create a list. Education is in dire need of help, youth remain unemployed, and people remain without money so where is the development? During my tenure, I was the one that brought the 100-bed civil hospital to Williamnagar along with so much infrastructure,” she asserted.
On the NPP working on the land settlement deal with residents of Kusimikolgre and Warima localities, she thanked the Conrad K Sangma-led government for finally signing on the dotted line but added that she had worked out the process during her tenure. “They just did the final parts of the story and the people who know the background, will know that it was me that began the process,” she said.
