Friction in Congress because of revamp ahead of 2023 election; every state party has in-house issues: Ampareen Lyngdoh

Lyngdoh was reacting to a remark made by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that Congress is a “divided house”.
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SHILLONG:

Accepting that Meghalaya Congress is currently “not in order”, party legislator Ampareen Lyngdoh said that all state political parties are facing the same issue as “politics is very flexible”.

"It is fine to say that state Congress is not in order because there have been some reports of members switching loyalty. Ahead of the 2023 elections, the party had to revamp and this attempt may have brought in some friction. Every party has these in-house problems, which I'm sure, the National People’s Party (NPP) is not devoid of,” she said.

Lyngdoh was reacting to a remark made by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that Congress is a “divided house”. “With the 2023 elections round the bend, we will see how many NPP members move from left to right, right to left, in the political arena,” she said.

She, however, added that Meghalaya is a political conglomeration of leaders "who win on their own personality rather than on the symbol of the party which they chose to fight an election from” and “a party cannot control ambitions of an individual”.

“When ambition establishes that an individual cannot be second in command or don’t get a ticket from a party, they look for greener pastures elsewhere. And the democratic framework of our country allows that,” she said.

She stressed that the state Congress is working hard to ensure that its members remain within the fold. “We will prepare ourselves for the worst scenario so that our numbers don't get affected," she said, adding that the party is fortunate to have some binding laws to ensure that elected members "do not act as independent players in the horse trading", which, otherwise, is a common phenomenon post the elections.

Reacting to former vice president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) John F. Kharshiing joining the NPP, Lyngdoh said, "There are certain players in the political scene who continuously go from one party to another irrespective of the fact that they don't even win elections. "

"We have tried to support all of his agendas, but if he sees political mileage in joining a new party, we wish him well. We hope that finally he will stop moving from one party to another and will be satisfied," said Lyngdoh.

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