SHILLONG
Congress leaders and the five suspended leaders are engaged in a war of words over `ghar wapsi.’
Earlier, the now-suspended former Congress Legislature Party leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh, had ridiculed Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president Vincent Pala’s claim of ‘ghar wapsi’ of the suspended leaders adding that the MP’s ‘double standards’ on the matter is a disappointment.
Reacting to it, the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) chief Adrian L Chyne Mylliem on Friday hit out at Lyngdoh calling her power-hungry.
Mylliem also reminded Lyngdoh of her abandoning the Congress in 2008 only to be back within a year. “If this does not reflect her own double standards, merely for the sake of position and power, then what does?” he said in a statement, while reacting to Lyngdoh’s allegation against Pala.
He added, “It is indeed very unfortunate that a person, who has been a minister and accommodated in the party many a time overlooking her ambitions and greed for power, is now issuing absurdities and falsehoods against the MPCC president.”
The young leader said the suspended legislator has conveniently chosen to ignore her own indulgence to ‘ghar wapsi’ and ‘double standards’ terminologies to which she is no alien.
The MPYC president said Lyngdoh’s statement against the MPCC president is nothing but a reflection of her frustration for not being allowed to do things according to her whims inside the party by trampling on its values and principles.
He said Pala in fact has only been doing what a true democratic and people’s leader is expected to do. He is setting his house in order and to do that he is working at the grassroots level and organising people at the blocks so that the party functionaries can listen to the people and address their needs and concerns.
“This is a very basic thing which every party will do. We are only trying to see that we can hear all the people before we decide and to do this, we have to ensure that we get the right person for the job. What is so wrong with that?” he said.
“People of the state deserve to get leaders who can help them build their career, their land and improve their livelihoods without compromising on values and principles which have been handed down to us by leaders of yesteryears,” he added.
Reiterating that the doors of the MPCC are always open for those who want to return to their homes, the MPYC leader said “Their own commitment to the party, its values and the people will go a long way in setting the agenda for the future of the party and the state.”
Meanwhile, Adrian claimed that the Congress under Pala has been clear in its aim to reach out to the people and develop a bottom-up system which works in everyone’s interest, rather than appease a few whose sole ambition has been only position and power and hardly anything to do with the interest of the people of their constituencies and the state.