Shillong, Dec 29: Congress chief Vincent H Pala on Thursday appealed to the citizens of the state to give his party a chance to lead the government in 2023.

“We appeal to the people of Meghalaya, to give us a chance (in 2023). We need absolute majority to ensure stability so that we can protect our people be it in the border or to the Christian, be it law and order…,” Pala told reporters.

Accusing the NPP-led MDA government of failing on all fronts, the MP said that it is high time to make a change and the Congress is the only alternative for the people of Meghalaya. “Congress this time is a Congress for a change. We have new faces and we have all the expertise (for addressing the various issues confronting the state and its people),” he said.

Pala also slammed the present government for its failure to provide adequate electricity supply to the people of the state. “Actually, the generation is almost 120 crore units in a year whereas (the requirement is) 180 crore units so there is a shortage of almost 600 crore units in a year. That will cost the government very heavily and each unit costing now almost Rs 6. Therefore, we will focus mainly on this on how to minimize the cost and the burden on the state of Meghalaya,” he said.

Stating that the party is committed to improve the health services in the state, the MPCC chief said, “…somebody told me that more than 160 batches of medicines which cost more than Rs. 1.5 crore have got shelf-life of only 20%.”

In terms of unemployment, he said, “Normally there is no system in such a way where the youth will have a platform to know the demand and supply. For eg, I pass my M.Com so who will employ me. So, we need to have a system and a platform.”

He further assured that the party would also come up with a state university to ensure students do not have any problem in getting admission in the university.

“(The party will also look into) farmer’s welfare as it is a big issue as almost 70-80% of our people are farmers in our state,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress chief said that the party is not keen in having any pre-poll alliance with any political party ahead of the 2023 elections. “We are planning to have 60 candidates and we don’t plan to have any pre-poll alliance with any political party…I am confident that the people this time will give us their mandate,” he asserted.