SHILLONG, Jan 30: The defection by Congress MDC from Mairang Batskhem Ryntathiang to the ruling NPP in the KHADC has left the grand-old party with not much to say, as conveyed by Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) leader, Pynshngainlang N Syiem.
What now also haunts the Congress is the possibility of more desertions to the NPP — speculation is rife that another party MDC, Carness Sohshang, who is also an Executive Member of the Council, is planning to join the NPP.
On Ryntathiang’s exit, Syiem, who is also the Deputy Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the KHADC, said, “I have nothing to comment on the decision of the MDC to associate himself with the NPP. He (Ryntathiang) is free to join any party since it is his individual decision.”
He, however, maintained that it is the duty of Ryntathiang to write to the president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on his decision to quit the party.
Stating that a sitting MDC deserting is a great loss to the party, Syiem said that he was not surprised by this development since the trend of people deserting the party ahead of elections is a common phenomenon.
Replying to a query, he said that the party is yet to receive any feelers from any sitting MDC who wish to join the Congress. “May be we will start getting feelers from people wanting to join the Congress once the election date is announced,” he said.
It may be mentioned that Ryntathiang was formally welcomed to the NPP by Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, who is also a candidate for the Shillong parliamentary seat, in the presence of party’s working president and former MLA, Hamletson Dohling, at Mairang last week.
The NPP Mairang Block Committee was also formed to bolster the party ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
