By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 24: A vertical split has emerged in the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) over removal of MPCC president Vincent H Pala.
The division came to light during a closed-door meeting chaired by AICC Joint Secretary in-charge of Meghalaya, Mathew Anthony held at the Congress Bhavan here on Monday.
While a section of MPCC leaders demanded that the party should appoint a new MPCC chief the other section questioned the lack of credible leaders to step into Pala’s shoes.
Some leaders believed the party would face problems if it decides to appoint a new MPCC chief, as they will have to start from scratch to rebuild the party. Others felt the party needed a new face to reemerge as a strong political entity in Meghalaya.
Over 50 party leaders attended the meeting, including Pala, lone Congress MLA Ronnie V Lyngdoh, and candidates who had contested the recent ADCs elections.
While assessing the party’s poor show in recent KHADC and JHADC electors, few leaders attributed the party’s dismal performance due to its alliance with the NPP in the JHADC.
Interestingly MPCC working president Pynshngain N Syiem did not attend the meeting. Attempts to contact him to find out the reason for his absence failed.
Syiem had, earlier, pointed out the party’s dismal performance in the 2023 Assembly elections, the defeat in the Shillong seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the setback in the recent ADC polls and had asked Pala to introspect on the things that have gone wrong in the party ever since the latter took charge of the party.
“The (Congress’s) defeat in the ADC elections is the final nail in the coffin. We need to do some soul-searching and find out where we went wrong,” Syiem had said when asked if Pala needed to step down owning moral responsibility for the poll debacle.
Syiem had also stated that the Congress lost many MLAs and MDCs during Pala’s tenure as the party chief.
Syiem, who was the Deputy CEM in the previous NPP-led EC, was reluctant to pull out from the alliance with the NPP.
The Congress had withdrawn support to the previous NPP-led EC in the KHADC only months before the ADC elections.
It will be interesting to see if the AICC will stick with Pala or look to appoint a new face who will be acceptable to everyone.
The Congress central leadership will need to take tough decisions looking at the 2028 Assembly polls.