By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 25: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Thursday said it had expelled three of its leaders to ensure discipline in the party.
The three – Avner Pariat, Shanlang Warjri and Kherup Sing Thabah – were expelled recently. Pariat and Warjri had contested the 2023 Assembly elections as VPP candidates.
Party spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh told reporters that no party or organisation can function without discipline within its setup. He said the VPP expects each and every member to subscribe to the ideology and the principles of the party and the advice of its leadership.
According to Myrboh, the VPP had advised the members not to speak to the media on their own since the party has a media cell and there is a party spokesperson authorized to speak on behalf of the party.
“You need to respect that. You cannot just go and express your views to the media or in the social media platform when you are a part and parcel of any setup. But these three leaders were not respecting how the party functions,” Myrboh said.
He said they were free to discuss and deliberate on any issues within the four walls of the party.
“You are not speaking anything internally but you went ahead to speak to the media which cannot be accepted,” he said.
Meanwhile, Myrboh said the party’s decision to expel the trio was not sudden. He said the matter was deliberated upon for quite some time.
“If it was with any other party, they would have been expelled a long time ago. We did not rush but eventually we had to take this stringent step since they were not toeing party lines,” the VPP spokesperson said.