Ruling out the possibility of joining other political parties at this juncture, former Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said the five legislators will soon take a call on the Congress’ decision to suspend them for three years.
“We will take a call when the time is right. We have nothing against Congress leadership. But when the leaders of the party shut the door on your face then we will be forced to make our own decision when the time is right,” Lyngdoh said.
Stating that they are yet to receive any official communication about the suspension order, she however maintained that they are not planning to join other political parties at the moment.
“We are not planning to join anyone. We are part of the MDA government, we will focus on that. We will try to get as many benefits as possible for our respective constituencies through this coalition that we are in. All five of us are on the same page that we will perform our duties as MLAs and we will continue to prepare for our elections,” Lyngdoh said.
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On Wednesday, the Congress had decided to suspend Lyngdoh along with four MLAs – Kimfa S Marbaniang (Rambrai-Jyrngam), Mohendro Rapsang (West Shillong), PT Sawkmie (Mawlai) and Mayralborn Syiem (Nongpoh) for "anti-party activities" after they supported the BJP-backed MDA government.
Terming the party's decision “strange”, Lyngdoh said that the five legislators were under the impression that they have been suspended since January this year. She also questioned if the suspension order issued to them in January was without the authority of the high command.
“Do you mean to tell me that the suspension order issued to us in January was without authority, I mean did they suddenly get approval now but at that time they had taken subsequently so many actions so we leave the matter as it is suspended in animation,” she said
The former CLP leader informed that the five legislators had written to the MPCC in January this year that they were going to be part of the MDA government. “We had sought their consent over and above and everything else but there was absolutely no communication coming forward from their end, nobody replied to our letter. The AICC did not reply to our letter,” she said.
She continued, “When no letter came forward from them, we were given an impression that it was fine so we met the CM, the deputy CM and several other ministers and had a discussion which concluded in the MDA inviting us to join their government. Soon after that, we were surprised when we were given show cause and suspended by the party.”
Lyngdoh further clarified that the five MLAs felt it not necessary to respond to the show cause because “we felt that there were enough debates, discussions, and dialogues on the issue.” She also recalled that during a meeting to discuss the issue of supporting the MDA, the members of the district councils as well as the legislative assembly, who were for joining the MDA government were a greater number than those who were against the idea.
“If the Congress is a democratic party, then we ideally should have listened to the voice where there were more representations because we have talked about it and there were pertinent issues that were anyways evolving at that point of time,” she said.
Lyngdoh further alleged that after receiving the show cause and suspension order in January, immediately the block presidents were removed overnight without consulting the MLAs.
“They (AICC) changed and replaced our block presidents and subsequently in my constituency, the same block president in three days started campaigning as a Congress candidate so you can imagine the confusion that has arisen. This has also happened in other constituencies, she said while adding, “Now how do you deal with a suspension that did not give an opportunity for any intervention by any other party representation, nobody came from Delhi, nobody called us, it was as if the PCC did whatever they wanted.”
The East Shillong legislator said that Congress had taken a one-sided action.
