SHILLONG, Feb 3: Congress candidate from the Pynursla constituency, Nehru Suting on Friday said Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong miserably failed to deliver as the local MLA for the past 20 years.
There are many villages in the constituency yet to be electrified and have access to potable water and healthcare in the constituency, he told reporters after filing his nomination in Shillong.
Suting said the lack of development defied the civil subdivision status Pynursla earned five years ago. The subdivision is yet to get a dedicated office of the Agriculture Department to address the grievances of the constituency’s farmers, he added.
The Congress candidate said Tynsong set up only the PWD Division to serve his own interests and not the people. He also sought to know why the students of Pynursla have to come to Shillong for their higher studies even after becoming a subdivision.
Reminding Tynsong of the foundation stones he laid for many projects in the constituency, Suting asked whether these would ever see the light of day. “I will need 10 years and not 20 years to transform Pynursla,” Suting, who lost to Tynsong by 2,574 votes in 2018, said.
He dismissed the UDP as a “substandard school”, of which he was a part for the past five years. “The party (UDP) has three ministers in the NPP-led MDA Government but all of them failed to deliver,” he said.
He claimed only the “high-standard” Congress can do good for the state and its people. “Congress is like a new Titanic that is unsinkable and can carry the supporters and candidates of all political parties if they come on board,” he said.
Suting said the policy of reserving 40% of jobs for the Khasi-Jaintia people and 40% for the Garos should be done away with.
Wave in favour of UDP: Ex-Sohiong MLA
Former Home minister HDR Lyngdoh on Friday admitted that his overconfidence led to his defeat in the 2018 polls. He is confident that he will bounce back in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Lyngdoh, a former Congressman, said the wave is in favour of the UDP since there is a general feeling that a regional party should rule the state this time.
He said his priority would be to “repair the damage” caused in the last five years and termed the performance of the NPP-led MDA Government as “disastrous”.
He suggested that the remedy to the irregularities and corruption of the incumbent government will be the election of a new dispensation under a new leadership.
Asked to rate the performance of the sitting MLA from Sohiong, Samlin Malngiang, he refused to respond directly and said the MLA can be judged by his performance in the Assembly.
