Shillong, Dec 22: The Congress is probably going through the worst of its tumultuous times in Meghalaya and every day a new twist occurs. In the latest development, MPCC working president Pynshngain N Syiem has urged Dr Mukul Sangma and other 11 MLAs of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) to return to Congress. However, the catch here is that this is a mockery directed at Dr Sangma!

Syiem’s statement comes in reaction to Dr. Sangma asking the remaining 5 Congress MLAs to also join the Trinamool Congress.

Referring to the petition filed by the Congress for disqualification of the 12 MLAs for defecting to AITC, the decision for which is pending with the Meghalaya Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, Syiem said, “Better to come early as you never know what kind of decision will be taken by the Speaker. So we request Mukul (and his group) to rejoin the Congress party.”

He also stressed that one cannot play politics on the regulation as mandated in the Constitution of India.

“The Speaker has to examine it very carefully so that the spirit of the Tenth Schedule is not lost because if the spirit of the Tenth Schedule is lost, the petitioner may go to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation.”

“So I don’t think the other party will play politics regarding the anti-defection as it is very much under the Tenth Schedule,” he said.

Congress will not support MDA due to BJP factor

Syiem also clarified that Congress will never support the National People’s Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government so long as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is part of the coalition.

He said the Congress is only supporting the issues taken up on the floor of the House which include resolutions to urge the Centre for implementation of the ILP and the inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule, and the recent statement made by the five MLAs has been taken out of context.

“We stand together on these issues (on the floor of the House) but we will never give support to the MDA government… as long as the BJP is very much part of the MDA. It is not appropriate for us to give support to the MDA government,” he asserted.

When asked, the Congress working president said that the recent meeting of the five MLAs with the chief minister was to follow up on these important issues.

“The very intention of our MLAs was to remind the chief minister about the resolutions passed on the floor of the House but it does not mean Congress is giving support to the MDA government,” he further stated.

No pre-poll alliance for Congress

Syiem further informed that the party will not have any pre-poll alliance for the 2023 Assembly elections as it believes it will come out on top on its own.

“We are confident that we will come out as a single largest party in 2023,” he said while adding “we are clear that in 2023, our party will come back to rule the state of Meghalaya.”