SHILLONG: Two Congress MLAs Ampareen Lyngdoh and George Lyngdoh on Friday attended the oath taking ceremony of newly elected MLA Balajiedkupar Synrem at the office of the Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh.
Metbah administered the oath of office to Synrem, who will represent Shella as the new member of the Assembly.
In the gathering, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, others from the MDA and the family members were present but the presence of two senior Congress leaders raised many eyebrows.
Apart from the duo, no other Congress MLAs or party leaders attended the oath taking ceremony.
Their appearance in the oath taking ceremony of newly elected member of the MDA comes at a time when many in the Congress party are disappointed with the outcome of Shella bypoll where Congress performed badly.
It was learnt that many Congress MLAs were unhappy with the selection of the candidate for Shella bypoll as they wanted someone else to be given the ticket but the party chose Batyngshain Laitmon Ryngnga, who could secure only 1715 votes.
The party bypassed even its MDC Grace Mary Kharpuri, who secured 5781 votes and came second.
When contacted, George said they were attending the meeting of the ST/SC and OBC Welfare Committee nearby and felt that bypassing the function was awkward since they were invited to attend the programme.
