By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 2: Despite being reduced to zero in the Assembly with the defection of the lone MLA, Ronnie V Lyngdoh, to the NPP, the Congress party is in no mood to put the blame squarely on party president Vincent H Pala.
MPCC working president Deborah C Marak on Saturday said the president (Pala) alone cannot be blamed for the current debacle faced by the party.
“What can he do alone? We all are equally responsible,” Marak said while adding that the party MLAs deserted the party and joined the government for their own personal benefits as they did not want to remain in the opposition.
Pala was appointed the MPCC president in August 2021. Three months later, Mukul Sangma along with 11 other sitting MLAs joined the TMC camp.
The remaining five Congress MLAs started showing inclinations towards the MDA Government, and joined the NPP later.
The party could never recover from the political setbacks it had suffered and managed to win only five seats in the 2023 Assembly elections.
Gambegre MLA, Saleng Sangma gave up his seat to contest and win the Lok Sabha poll from the Tura seat in 2024.
In the bye-election held in November last year, the NPP snatched the seat from the Congress.
Three out of the remaining four Congress MLAs—Celestine Lyngdoh, Gabriel Wahlang and Charles Marngar—quit the party and joined the NPP last year, leaving Ronnie V Lyngdoh as the last standing man for Congress.
With his defection to the NPP, the Congress is left with zero representation in the Assembly.