SHILLONG:
Congress leader Vincent H Pala said on December 5 that the recent affiliation of the party’s former MLA from Phulbari, Abu Taher Mondal, with the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), is not a setback for the party.
Pala said, “It is not a setback because we were aware of it (would happen) 6-7 months in advance, were preparing for it, and have already secured a very strong candidate from Phulbari. He is a former agriculture officer.”
He added that Mondal’s resignation was not a surprise because majority of his family members had already joined the NPP and “unofficially, we as a party already know.”
Pala further expressed confidence that the Congress will win the Phulbari seat.
The Congress chief said that the party will in fact do much better than what people are expecting it to do in the upcoming 2023 polls from Garo Hills region. This is because the party has good candidates who are young and qualified.
When asked, Pala said, “BJP is poaching NPP, BJP is poaching UDP and BJP got some NPP and NPP also and UDP also got some Trinamool – all cheap people are running around, wherever money goes they go but genuine people are not like that.”