No mass resignation in Congress, party to go solo in all 29 GHADC seats: Pala

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Amid murmurs of internal churn ahead of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Vincent H Pala on Friday dismissed speculation of a mass exodus from the party, asserting that the Congress remains organisationally intact and election-ready. With the party deciding to contest all 29 seats on its own, the Congress leadership is positioning the move as a strategic push to consolidate its base in Garo Hills and build on what it sees as renewed political momentum after the Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing concerns over recent resignations, Pala maintained that the developments were limited and largely linked to ticket aspirations. "No mass resignation from Congress, definitely there are some resignation because some of them they are aspirants for the party ticket for elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council. Many of them they were in NPP they went to the congress and they applied for ticket, do the perception is that they may not get tickets because there was a meeting in the block and when Congress recommends candidates, it has to be recommended first by the block congress committee then come upto the district and from district come to the state, so the block committee meeting did not recommend their names, so the perception is that they may not get the ticket, so they left," The state Congress chief said.

He underscored that the Congress has completed all necessary formalities and is only awaiting the official election announcement to declare its candidates. Drawing a contrast with the ruling party, Pala said, "Congress is always there on the ground, we are working very hard and that's why we said we have finalized all the formalities and only we have to select candidates and once they announced elections to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council then we will declare our candidates also. We are fully prepared for the elections. I think NPP today is in the backfoot, they are nervous. We have seen one minister giving one statement and the other Minister gives another statement, so there is no unity amongst them and that is the sign, but congress we are fighting elections with one voice, except here and there definitely it's a big party," Pala added.

Also Read: Government open to CBI probe into illegal mining: Meghalaya Minister