SHILLONG:
State president of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Nongthymmai legislator Charles Pyngrope on March 2 said that the party was open to all options after winning only five seats.
“We are open to all options. In the last dispensation, we were in the opposition and we have no problem with that. The point is the work that we have been given to do has to be done to the best of our ability, trust and with integrity. That is how we should perform and that is how we should move forward irrespective of which part of the aisle you are – the treasury or the opposition.”
When asked, the AITC president said, “If we need to ally with somebody it will be with someone who has the same ideology and vision and enthusiasm which we have.”
With the party winning only one seat in the Khasi–Jaiñtia Hills region – his own seat – Pyngrope said, “Well, we didn’t have very good candidates. It is obvious but we have put up a fight in many constituencies that is more important. Winning and losing is part of democratic setup but putting up a fight and getting the vote share is more important.”
Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma of the Trinamool Congress won the Songsak seat by a margin of only 507 votes, but lost the Tikrikilla constituency to National People’s Party’s JD Sangma by 5,313 votes.
To a query, Pyngrope said, “It is not a question of senior or junior. The question is people and what they want. Now if they feel that the TMC is too young a party in the state to give them the responsibility to govern the state, that is their choice. As a TMC team we are still intact and we shall work, it is a matter of five years.”
He further claimed that the performance of the Trinamool Congress was commendable “because it is not only winning seats but getting the percentage of the vote share in the entire state. That has to be thought upon and then we take it forward.”