Sitting Umroi MLA and Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate George B Lyngdoh has described the giveaway of freebies in the run-up to the February 27 election as a bid to buy the people’s mandate and thus an insult to democracy.
The TMC has been criticised for making wholesale promises regarding cash transfers and other schemes if it wins the election but yesterday, after filing his nomination papers, Lyngdoh indirectly hit out at National People’s Party candidate Damanbait Lamare for showering gifts in cash and kind on the people.
Lamare is the son of former Umroi legislator Ngaitlang Dhar, one of the richest men in Meghalaya, and brother of Dasakhiatbha Lamare, the sitting MLA of Mawhati (though he now plans on contesting for Nongkrem) and nephew of cabinet minister Sniawbhalang Dhar.
“Where were these rich people when Covid-19 struck us? Did they come and distribute Rs 5,000 at that time when the people really needed it?” Lyngdoh questioned. “They are attempting to buy the people’s mandate in Ri-Bhoi but we will stand tall and will carry forward the name and fame of Umroi and Ri-Bhoi district as a whole.”
Lyngdoh won the seat in 2018 on a Congress ticket but was one of the defectors to the TMC in 2021.
“When the 12 MLAs moved out from Congress and the remaining five were suspended, it was because we understood the need to be in a party that works for the welfare of the people,” he said.
Indirectly hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Lyngdoh said the TMC is a party that encompasses and respects all faiths and religions.
