Former Congress MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh, who joined the National People’s Party (NPP) on Monday, said “proxy entry” into the state by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was not a healthy trend.
“Everyone of the 12 people who went to the TMC should ideally resign, be brave and go back to the people to get their mandate. Seek a fresh mandate,” Lyngdoh said.
The former MLA was referring to 12 legislators led by Mukul Sangma who broke away from the Congress to join the TMC.
Lyngdoh said that she has shown the people that it is possible (to win after resigning).
In 2009, a year after she was first elected to the Meghalaya Assembly, Lyngdoh resigned from the United Democratic Party to contest from the Congress and won.
Lyngdoh said that it is the faith of the people which will supersede the proxy entry into any political party.
Asked how confident she was to win with just a few months away from elections and she switched to the NPP, Lyngdoh said she does not enter as a proxy into another political party.
She said that if a party no longer requires her services she will resign and she has done.
“I am not going through the sky light, the window into somebody’s house. I resigned this morning before I declared my candidature from the NPP,” Lyngdoh said.
Lyngdoh reiterated that proxy entry of political parties into Meghalaya should not be allowed.
“It will result in unhealthy politics. Who will lose out in the long run, not individual candidates but the people in general,” she said.
The former MLA from East Shillong also said that the voice of her supporters is that if she has to leave the Congress then she has to join the NPP.
Asked if she has to choose between the people’s choice or the good work of the government to join the NPP, Lyngdoh said that she will go with the former.
“My people on their own have also seen what the government has tried to do. So with that mandate through my interactions with people I should listen first to my people,” Lyngdoh said.