Shillong, May 2: The Congress on Monday said that its doors are open for leaders who are willing to return and uphold the principles and values of the party even as it expressed confidence that the citizens will vote against the AITC for its ‘politics of violence’.
“The Congress leadership of the state has nothing to hide and it has always said that doors are open for those who are willing to return by showing a clear intent to uphold the principles and values of the party,” Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) president Adrian L Chyne Mylliem said in a statement.
He was reacting to a statement made by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) state president Charles Pyngrope that the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Vincent Pala is “a confused man”.
“People like Pyngrope are highly confused themselves after clear and unlike him and some of his colleagues unadulterated messages have been issued by the MPCC and its leader,” Mylliem said while adding “The Congress party is confident that the people will want an alternative to the present dispensation and also to keep out parties like the AITC that have practiced only politics of violence and communal hatred to garner votes.”
He further added that the president of the MPCC reiterates his belief that congress MLAs who are committed to the people of the state and values of the party would return with an open-mind.
Mylliem said that the statement made by Pyngrope is bereft of truth and contradicts the stand taken by his own party on ‘gharwapsi’.
He said a quick fact-check will reveal that on more than one occasion the AITC has welcomed back its suspended MLAs into the party fold.
He further stated that the AITC Meghalaya president’s rhetorical outburst calling the MPCC chief Vincent Pala “a confused man” has only exposed his personal lack of understanding of rules and terminologies of legislative procedures.
“His inability to decipher between suspension and expulsion makes him cut a sorry figure, especially given the fact that he has held the prestigious position of speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly,” he said.
The MPYC president said that the five MLAs who have been suspended from the Congress could return anytime.
“Their suspension order can be revoked as has been done in many instances in the past. It only requires a patch up between these MLAs with their parent party and its leadership,” he said.
“The Meghalaya AITC president has either willfully forgotten or goes by the ignorance is bliss mantra, to be able to overlook the fact that his own party had reinstated two of its MLAs – Seuli Saha and Dipak Haldar – in 2015. The two legislators were suspended for anti-party activities.
Not just that, earlier in 2003, senior party leader Ajit Panja was brought back to the party by Mamata Banerjee after suspending him for anti-party activities,” he said.
