Congress has a future in Garo Hills following Saleng’s victory

Congress chief Vincent H Pala on Tuesday said that the sitting Gambegre legislator Saleng A Sangma had already expressed his readiness to vacate the MLA seat and to carry on as newly elected MP of Tura parliamentary constituency.

Saleng A Sangma unseated Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s sister Agatha Sangma by a massive margin of over 1.55 lakh votes.

“He (Saleng) has to take a call within 15 days whether to vacate the seat,” Pala said.

Asked if the party would meet to decide on the matter, the Congress president however said, “Before filing his nomination, he (Saleng) already told us that he is ready to vacate the MLA and carry on as MP.”

Terming Saleng’s victory as an opportunity to revive the Congress in Garo Hills region, Pala said the party now has a leader in the region.

“It is unfortunate that we lost all our workers, we lost all our members in Garo Hills and we don’t have a leader in Garo Hills and with Saleng coming, I think now Congress has a future in Garo Hills so I am grateful to the people for giving Congress a chance to come back and serve the people of Garo Hills,” he said.

“I think this is good as people will not vote for Congress if we organize only in Khasi and Jaintia without having leaders from Garo Hills so, now that is balanced as we have got MLAs from here and we  now have leaders from Garo Hills also. I think there will be a balance and people will definitely trust the Congress in the future,” Pala further added.