Former Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh today said all the five suspended MLAs will not join any political party but will continue to reap benefits from the NPP-led MDA government.
“We are not planning to join anyone. We are part of the MDA government, we will focus on that. We will try to get as much benefits as possible for our respective constituencies through this coalition that we are in. All five of us are on the same page that we will perform our duties as MLAs and we will continue to prepare for our elections,” she said.
On Tuesday, the Congress Disciplinary Committee recommended the suspension of the five Congress MLAs (Ampareen Lyngdoh, Kimfa S Marbaniang, Mohendro Rapsang, PT Sawkmie and Mayralborn Syiem) for supporting the BJP-backed MDA government in the state, defying the party’s directives. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the disciplinary panel’s recommendations.
Lyngdoh said all of them have nothing against the Congress leadership. “When the leaders of the party shut the door on your face then we will be forced to make our own decision when the time is right,” she said.
Stating that they are yet to receive any official communication about the suspension order, Lyngdoh said it is strange that the legislators were under the impression that they have been suspended since January this year.
“Do you mean to tell me that the suspension order issued to us in January was without authority, I mean did they suddenly get approval now but at that time they had taken subsequently so many actions so we leave the matter as it is suspended in animation,” she said
The former CLP leader informed that the five legislators had written to the MPCC in January, this year that they were going to be part of the MDA government. “We had sought their consent over and above and everything else but there was absolutely no communication coming forward from their end, nobody replied to our letter. The AICC did not reply to our letter,” she said, adding, “When no letter came forward from them, we were given an impression that it was fine so we met the CM, deputy CM and several other ministers and had a discussion which concluded in the MDA inviting us to join their government. Soon after that we were surprised when we were show cause and suspended by the party.”
Lyngdoh further clarified that the five MLAs felt it not necessary to respond to the show cause because “we felt that there were enough debates, discussions, and dialogues on the issue.”
Lyngdoh further alleged that after receiving the show cause and suspension order in January, immediately the block presidents were removed overnight without consulting the MLAs.
