SHILLONG, Oct 8: The Opposition Congress has accused the National People’s Party (NPP) of poaching its leaders to contest the bypolls in the Mawphlang and Mawryngkneng constituencies on October 30.
“A single party candidate has applied for Mawphlang and Mawryngkneng. Neither former Congress MDC Lamphrang Blah nor party leader Norbert Marboh applied for the ticket. It is a clear case of poaching since both of them decided to contest the bypolls out of the blue,” MPCC working president Ampareen Lyngdoh, also the convener for the Mawryngkneng bypoll said.
She alleged that the cash-rich NPP is throwing money into the bypolls.
According to her, the NPP had persuaded Marboh to contest from Mawryngkneng as an independent just to divide the votes.
Maintaining that the party supporters and leaders are intact in Mawryngkneng, Lyngdoh said only a small breakaway group deserted the party along with Marboh.
The MPCC working claimed that money power will be used to influence the voters in Mawryngkneng.
Lyngdoh, however, hoped that the voters of Mawryngkneng will make the right judgment while casting their votes.
“The wisdom of the people will be tested,” she said.
Lyngdoh said the anti-incumbency factor against the ruling coalition will be an advantage for Congress candidate Highlander Kharmalki in Mawryngkneng.
She said Blah, the four-time Congress MDC from Mawphlang did not express his willingness to contest the bye-election.
“He (Blah) never said that he wanted to contest. He just left the party in a big hurry,” Lyngdoh said.
“I strongly suspect the former MDC got a deal from the NPP to contest the bye-election,” she added.
She also expressed surprise over the decision of former party MDC, Ashahel D. Shira to contest from the United Democratic Party as he too did not apply for the party ticket. “It is surprising that Shira decided to contest from the UDP when it had drawn a blank in the GHADC elections,” she said.
Lyngdoh claimed that the party has good prospects in Rajabala with the breakaway factions of NPP supporting Congress.
