SHILLONG, Sep 17: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Vincent H Pala on Tuesday said he had offered to step down from the post after failing to retain the Shillong Lok Sabha seat but the party’s central leadership asked him to continue.
“…the AICC insisted that I continue to lead the party in Meghalaya. I wouldn’t have remained the MPCC president without the blessings of the party’s central leadership,” Pala told The Shillong Times.
He felt that it will be wrong on his part to resign when the Congress in Meghalaya is in its lowest phase ever.
“It will give the impression that I have surrendered. I have decided to take on the challenge to rebuild the party as the people in the state are looking at the Congress as an alternative,” Pala claimed.
He said the AICC had not mentioned that his appointment as the MPCC chief was for three years. According to him, there is no such provision in the AICC where the party’s state presidents are elected for a specific period.
He said former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had continued to serve in the post for a number of years. Even former Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had served as the state Congress president for 43 years, he added.
He said this false information vis-à-vis his three-year tenure is being spread by former Congress leaders who do not want him to continue in the post. He said they want to return to the Congress but will not do so as long as he is at the helm of affairs.
“It will not go down well in the eyes of the public if they return when I am the president because they had spoken a lot against me when they deserted the party,” Pala said.
He expressed surprise over media reports that certain leaders felt he should step down owning moral responsibility for the party’s downfall in the state.
“We hold regular party meetings and none of them made any indication that I would need to step down. This is the creation of the former Congress leaders who are desperate about returning to the party,” Pala claimed.
