Shillong: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress
Committee working president Deborah Marak has backtracked on
her statement on Monday that there were some problems within
the legislature party and that party president Sonia Gandhi
would resolve them.
Last night in a statement, she said no rift existed in
the PCC with all members working unitedly and stood by MPCC
president Friday Lyngdoh`s assessment that AICC chief Sonia
Gandhi is `very strong and clear in her mind that there will
be no change of leadership at this juncture`.
Marak, a DD Lapang loyalist, had on Monday told a
press conference that there were `some problems with the
Congress legislators and that Congress president Sonia Gandhi
will take some time to resolve it`.
“Now that she is preoccupied with the government
formation in different states where elections were held as
well as with the allocation of portfolios in Arunachal
Pradesh, it might take some time before the matter is settled,”
Marak had said.
She said AICC observers were expected in the state and a
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting was on the cards to
take up the issue.
Meanwhile, former chief minister DD Lapang, whom the
dissident group has projected as their leader, contradicted
Friday Lyngdoh and said the leadership issue was still alive
and the AICC was yet to take a final call.
“AICC is well aware of the grievances of the dissident
MLAs. A CLP meeting is needed to resolve the problem,” Lapang
told reporters yesterday.
A dissident group of Congress legislators is unhappy at
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma’s `autocratic` way of functioning
and are demanding a change in the leadership.
Mukul Sangma is battling a revolt from as many as 18
legislators, including six Cabinet ministers. Sangma took over
from four-time chief minister Lapang who could not complete a
full five-year term even once and was forced to quit after a
revolt in his party last year.
Sangma’s government is the 22nd government the state saw
in its 38-year statehood which is marked by frequent political
turbulence.
PTI
