By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 6: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh on Monday made it clear that there was no loss of faith in MPCC president Vincent H Pala’s leadership. He also termed the report about a rift between him and the MPCC chief as misleading.
“There is no truth in the report. It is an attempt to create confusion within the party. There is no such misunderstanding,” Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times.
He also denied that he was missing from Pala’s election campaigns and recalled that he had accompanied Pala in as many as four meetings in places like Nongthymmai and Madanrting.
“We organised campaigns in places where he (Pala) could not attend. I had even accompanied MPCC working president PN Syiem and party MLAs and MDCs to campaign in places like Mawphlang, Mawngap and others,” he said.
Lyngdoh said people were not giving credit to his efforts to campaign for the Congress since he was not visible on social media platforms and YouTube.
“I would admit that I was rarely seen in the social media while campaigning for our sitting MP. But the fact remains that I have given my best to campaign for the party,” the CLP leader said.
He also made it clear that the exodus of Congress leaders was not restricted to Meghalaya alone.
“This phenomenon is prevailing across the country,” Lyngdoh said, referring to the recent resignation of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief, Arvinder Singh Lovely.
“We need to understand that political leaders resign from a party for their own individual or personal gains. Many leaders who deserted the Congress in Meghalaya did it for their own personal interests,” he said.
He also gave due credit to Pala for the resurgence of the Congress in Garo Hills. “Our party candidate Saleng A Sangma has given a strong challenge to sitting NPP MP Agatha K Sangma in Tura. Winning or losing is a different case. But I have seen that NPP leaders have also admitted that if they win it will be with a thin margin,” Lyngdoh said.
The CLP leader recalled that he along with Pala had gone to Delhi to impress upon the party’s central leadership to award the Tura ticket to Saleng A Sangma as part of the efforts to revive the party.
“We are happy with the work done by Pala. We managed to win five seats in Meghalaya despite contesting the 2023 Assembly polls with no sitting MLA only because of the able leadership of the MPCC chief. Why put all the blame on one man? When good things happen everyone tries to take credit. When something bad happens why blame only one person?” Lyngdoh questioned.
Another Congress functionary, on condition of anonymity, denied allegations that party leaders are losing faith in Pala’s leadership.
“This is the resurgence period of Congress. The party has done well in both the Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya and we expect to win them,” he said on Monday.
He said the Congress, which bore the brunt of a botched-up campaign in the 2023 Assembly elections after the exodus of its MLAs in 2022, has gained grounds to be the main challenger of the ruling National People’s Party.
He said the Congress’s turnaround is being attributed by many to the tactical slips of the NPP and BJP before the Lok Sabha elections and the effective manner in which the Congress took advantage of them.
“We have been able to reorganise at the grassroots level effectively under the leadership of Pala, who is also the incumbent MP from the Shillong parliamentary seat,” he added.
“Many MLAs who deserted our party in 2022 lost the elections (the following year) because their voters felt cheated by them. They are now frustrated and making irrelevant statements. Today, all the party MLAs and party leaders at all levels are united and they worked very hard in this Lok Shaba election for the party candidates,” he said.
It may be recalled that a former Congress legislator had claimed the clash of ego between the MPCC president (Pala) and the CLP leader (Ronnie) destroyed the party in Meghalaya. He had also said the Congress leadership should have understood the implications of putting these two individuals against each other at the cost of the party.
“The sitting MP (Pala) was instrumental in destroying Congress. Which sane person would want to be a leader without grassroots support? This approach of the AICC proved detrimental. The ones who did not want to leave eventually exited the party and ones who remained were suspended,” he had said.