Taking the Congress Party’s standing in Meghalaya to a new low, the five remaining party MLAs decided today to join the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA).
In a move that reeks of self-interest and self-preservation, a letter signed by the five-Ampareen Lyngdoh, Mayralborn Syiem, Mohendro Rapsang, Kimfa Marbaniang and Process T Sawkmie – representing the rump Congress Legislative Party submitted a letter to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today to pledge their support to his government. All of the Congress MLAs, barring Sawkmie, met Sangma in person.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Lyngdoh did not even bother to try and take the moral high ground.
“It doesn’t matter if this is double standards or triple standards; who is straight in this generation of politics? If everybody is straight then we will also be straight. Now if everyone is crooked what can you do? … We were ditched and nobody took any action, leaving it upon the five of us,” Lyngdoh stated.
The Congress was reduced to just five MLAs after 12 defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in November. The TMC is now the sole opposition voice in the Meghalaya Assembly, a fact they quickly made clear on social media, tweeting, “The unscrupulous and power hungry people have officially joined hands. This alliance between Congress and NPP (National People’s Party)-led MDA has once again clearly marked [TMC] as the only credible alternative in Meghalaya!”
Lyngdoh, the CLP leader, struggled to justify the five legislators’ sudden about-turn, which seems to have been planned long in advance, as the letter submitted to the CM was originally dated January 22 before this was crossed out and replaced with today’s date.
Contradictorily, she expressed hope that the public would respect the move by the five but also said it did not matter if the Congress high command in New Delhi accepted it as the MLAs have the support of the people.
Such a move could prompt the high command to expel the five from the Congress altogether, thereby giving them a clear pathway to joining the NPP, which Lyngdoh’s husband and Malki-Laitumkhrah MDC Fantin Lakadong had already done. However, the East Shillong MLA steered clear of answering a question on this subject.
The CLP leader also refused to comment on the idea of the Congress working with its arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We feel that, as elected representatives, we have the right to do what we think is best for the five and that’s why we came to this decision,” Lyngdoh said. “We hope the high command and the party listen to us since we are the elected members and we are the ones going for election. We are the one feeling the brunt of this confusion.”
The CLP is now fully behind the MDA and she asked the public to respect the decision.
“We are the famous five elected MLAs and if you don’t respect the voice of the elected five MLAs then what is the point of the party going forward? We are elected by our people and we have taken the authority by ourselves to ensure that we are in a strategic position to ensure that our constituencies do not suffer beyond the four-year period of hardships that we have already felt and experienced,” Lyngdoh stated.
