Cong infighting delays naming three candidates

***File pix: Neil Antonio War (left) and Lambor Malngiang***

Shillong, January 24: The Congress party apparently withheld announcing the names of three of its candidates for the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) elections slated for February 24 as there appears to be wrangling within the party.

On Thursday Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Commitee (MPCC) president DD Lapang released the list of candidates in his residence but he did not name sitting MDCs – Lambor Malngiang and Neil Antonio War – from Nongkrem and Malki-Laitumkhrah constituencies, respectively. The Congress also did not name its candidate from the Nongthymmai constituency.

Congress sources on Friday informed that Malngiang and War have been accused of indulging in anti-party activities prompting the leadership to refrain from immediately re-nominating them from Nongkrem and from Malki-Laitumkhrah constituencies.

However, the sources did not reveal the nature of the alleged anti-party activities.

It is worth mentioning that in the 2009 polls, Malngiang was elected from Nongkrem on a KHNAM ticket. He, however, defected to the Congress in the same year.

Recently, when the Congress led KHADC executive committee had passed the delimitation bill to realign the constituencies, Malngiang was one of the MDCs who met Governor KK Paul to impress upon him the need to maintain status quo despite belonging to the same party.

But Paul went ahead to give his approval to the amendment to the rules to realign the constituencies.

War, on the other hand, had allegedly supported another candidate in last year’s Assembly polls from East Shillong constituency even as the Congress candidate Ampareen Lyngdoh was contesting from the same constituency and won the seat by a huge margin. The fact that War did not support his party candidate during the assembly election last year did not go well with the party leaders.

For the Nongthymmai seat, an alleged tug of war between two senior Congress leaders on who should be the candidate has delayed the finalization of the party’s nominee.- By Our Reporter