'Congress has lost touch with people': Ex-Meghalaya minister quits party ahead of 2023 polls

In a resignation letter to Congress president Malikarjun Kharge, Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the party has lost its "sense of direction".

New Delhi: Ahead of the 2023 Meghalaya Assembly elections, Congress MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh on Monday (December 19, 2022) quit the party. In a resignation letter to Congress president Malikarjun Kharge, she said that the party has lost the touch with the people of Meghalaya. The East Shillong Assembly lawmaker also said that the "recent developments within the party" have led her to believe that it has lost its "sense of direction". 

Lyngdoh also posted her resignation letter on her official Twitter account and tagged Kharge, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"Recent developments within the party have led me to believe that it has lost its sense of direction. There has been a pressing need for the party and its leadership to reflect on this. Sincere and honest attempts to lead such self-introspections, I believe, have failed," she wrote.

"The party has lost touch with the people of Meghalaya, and I no longer believe it is the best platform for me to serve them. It is with deep regret, therefore, that I am writing to tender my formal resignation from the party membership in the Indian National Congress, effective immediately," Ampareen Lyngdoh said.

I have tendered my formal resignation from @INCIndia. @kharge @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi pic.twitter.com/O6krOZzSEd

— Dr. Ampareen Lyngdoh (@ampareenlyngdoh) December 19, 2022

According to media reports, she is likely to join the National People's Party (NPP).

Assembly elections in Meghalaya are likely to be held in February 2023.

In the upcoming polls for the 60-seat assembly, a multi-corner contest is expected to be witnessed as the ruling NPP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), United Democratic Party (UDP), few other parties besides the Trinamool Congress have separately announced that they would put up candidates in all 60 assembly constituencies.

The NPP is a dominating party in the MDA government of a 6-party alliance in which the BJP and the UDP are the constituents.