SHILLONG, April 18: Control over the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has been a tug of war between MLA Adelbert Nongrum and Pyndap Saibon, who claims to be the party president with much of the discord apparently remaining unsolved.
Pyndap Saibon has also accused Adelbert Nongrum of forcefully claiming the post of the president while addressing the media on April 9 last.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, Saibon demanded of Nongrum to show the letter issued by the Election Commission of India recongising him as the president of KHNAM.
According to Saibon, the High Court of Meghalaya had urged upon the ECI to examine the conflict in the party in details.
Saibon stated that the ECI had sent its last letter to him as well as Nongrum on November 20, 2020, to amicably resolve this crisis among themselves.
“It is totally wrong for Nongrum to claim that the ECI had recognised him as the president since it wanted us to resolve the matter amicably,” he said.
According to him, no meeting has been held so far between him and Nongrum to resolve the issue.
Moreover, Saibon maintained that he was unanimously elected as the president of KHANM while Nongrum was elected as the working president during the general convention held on January 27, 2017.
Saibon, however, alleged that the MLA had written to the ECI on September 14, 2018, that the meeting of the general council was convened on August 6, 2018, at his residence.
He also alleged that Nongrum has misled the ECI by stating that there is no other member in the party except him.
“I am ready to resolve the leadership issue. I am ready to convene the meeting of the general council if he wanted to be the president since I am no longer interested to contest. The only thing I wanted is that all procedure should be followed as per the constitution of the party,” Saibon added.
