Shillong, Feb 9: Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh on Wednesday warned further damage to the Indian National Congress (INC) party in the state, if the leadership does not respect the decision of the five legislators.
“You (MPCC) did not mandate us to the Legislative Assembly, you have to remember that and if five elected MLAs are telling you that this is the way to go forward and you still want to not listen to us then you will be responsible for any further damage of the party in the state of Meghalaya,” Lyngdoh told reporters.
She was reacting to a statement made by the MPCC president Vincent H Pala that action will be taken against the five legislators for “anti-party activity” by extending support to the BJP-backed NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
“I do not take the bait that there is a BJP tag in any of these movements, please stop joking with us, two MLAs of BJP who are part of the coalition is none of our problem,” Lyngdoh said adding “Congress is not interested on who you are going to talk or who are you going to dine with, we are interested in creating a strategic location for ourselves.”
“Eleven months down the line, if each MLA is given 10 big projects which the AICC cannot give us, then what is the problem, you may have debate on that but we have our people to carry along and no AICC from Delhi can do anything,” she further stated.
Stating that the word ‘action’ is inappropriate, the CLP leader said because in the state the MLAs give direction to the party and not the other way round.
“Let us see what he (Pala) means. Right now no one is authorised to dictate to our CLP. We cross the bridge when this statement commensurate to ‘action’,” she said.
Referring the situation to a football match, Lyngdoh said, “We respect the AICC because like a good coach, you have sent your footballers to the field, it is your responsibility to make sure you give us refreshment, money, you give us advice when require but you cannot change the strategy of the football match.”
She further added, “No manager in any successful team will sit with his players and say I want you to play like this, we are the players, we are looking at Meghalaya 2023, you have just gotten a beating, you have actually just got penalties, 12 penalties you got and you did not react.”
Asking the AICC not to disturb, Lyngdoh said, “We are survivors, we don’t want to fight any system but it’s about time elected members of the party tell the AICC that you cannot dictate terms to us.”
She said the five legislators are trying to show the way to build the Congress forward. “If you don’t listen to us, you take action which is going to be against your interest, we leave it to your wisdom. We will not desert you, we will not ditch you but you can no longer control us, listen to our advice because that is going to be good for the party, otherwise do you want,” she added.
