SHILLONG, NOV 2: The opposition Congress on Tuesday blamed it on “money power” as one of the main reasons behind the poll debacle in the just concluded bye elections to the three Assembly seats – Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Rajabala.
The Congress came second in all the three constituencies as it lost its Mawryngkneng and Rajabala seats to the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) and Mawphlang seat to the United Democratic Party (UDP).
The opposition admitted that infighting within the party also had a negative impact on its poll performance.
Speaking to media persons, Congress leader and East Shillong legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the party during the elections has visited the three constituencies and witnessed lack of development and the party has time and again raised these issues.
“But when the result comes, it indicates that money played a very big role in these elections. We are not going to deny that infighting within the party is one of the main reasons for this debacle but you must not also forget that over and above an internal issue of instability within our own party, comes the big role that money is playing in Meghalaya politics,” she said.
Lyngdoh said that the party workers have visited every part of the constituency whether it is Mawphlang or Mawryngkneng and has seen that these areas are under development such as dilapidated roads condition, lack of drinking water and has also listen to the plight of the farmers but nobody seems to care about the issues and this is a clear indicator that money played a very big role in these elections especially in East Khasi Hills.
“We know that the National People’s Party (NPP) or any other party or even the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government will say, why don’t you file FIR, but it is impossible to consolidate and file an FIR because obviously nobody will come up and expose their practices” she added.
The Congress leader however claimed that the poll debacle was not a bad loss for the Congress as it still has thousands of supporters in these two constituencies.
“Half of the population is still with the Congress as they still share the same concern about the issues that are there before the people and this region in general,” she said.
She added that the results indicate a very close fight including in Rajabala even when the leader of the state Conard K Sangma was camping in Rajabala for ten days.
“These are the kinds of things that people need to question, look at and find out as they are important factors in politics. This loss in the two elections of East Khasi Hills and Rajabala were not big losses considering the amount of money that was pumped in, I think they will also have to sit back and evaluate their performances,” she said adding “We thanked those Congress men and women, citizens of East Khasi Hills and Rajabala who show their trust and faith on the congress party by not moving despite the many temptations.”
Lyngdoh went on to say that “we feel that it is fine, we didn’t do too badly, if the ruling candidates won by thousands of votes then you can say that Congress is history but that is not the case and we are not yet history.”
On the allegation of the deputy chief minister that Congress is a sinking ship, Lyngdoh said, “I don’t understand, that being the deputy chief minister and an important member of the NPP, he would invite politicians to come and join to either UDP or NPP since even the NPP has field candidate for Mawphlang constituency.”
“So was that a gimmick? Why did they field a candidate from UDP and NPP for Mawphlang, who were they trying to fool? What they were trying to do or did they try or attempt to fragmented and polarise the voting of Mawphlang, hence they should ask themselves, how can you call everybody to the UDP and NPP and still have candidates from your own respective parties and fight and talk about each other on platforms,” said Lyngdoh.
Asked about the preparation of the party for the 2023 election, Lyngdoh said that the party will not reveal everything at once and but few information will be revealed when the right time comes.
“I will use the words of my leader in the congress party who used to say not everything will be revealed and will be kept close to our chest, we will use the same formula at this point of time” she added.
By Our Reporter
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