FROM OUR STAFF

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Feb 2: Virtually countering the notion that the rebel candidates could play spoilsport to the prospects of the official party nominee, president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) DD Lapang on Saturday said, “Let’s see how those people can politically survive and win the elections on their own.”

He was answering to queries posed by newsmen on the sidelines of an election campaign held in Pynursla.

While the political analysts see the existence of more than a dozen rebel Congress candidates as “destructors” of the Congress’s chances in some constituencies, Lapang said, “Let’s see. We cannot rule out their capacity but the Congress leadership and the workers are working hard to ensure that they are not a force to make the Congress as the single largest party in the State.”

“Our destiny is to form the government and let us watch the survival of those people who had left us,” asserted Lapang.

He said that allocation of party tickets has been done by the screening committee after a lot of exercise. Asked on the infighting within the Congress that has led to frequent change of chief ministers in the past five years, Lapang said that the media tends to look at the Congress while ignoring the tussle within other regional parties.

“Our party is democratic in structure and this culture has made us vibrant,” claimed the MPCC chief, besides indicating that the room to elect a chief minister is always open in the legislature party.

Asked on the chances of his known rival Mukul Sangma, Lapang said, “It’s not a crime for him as a sitting leader and chief minister to mobilize his support.”