As Meghalaya warms up for the assembly elections, due early next year, Congress leader and former state minister Dr Ampareen Lyngdoh has quit the grand old party. Along with one more MLA, Lyngdoh is set to join the ruling NPP (National People’s Party), people familiar with the matter said. “I have tendered my formal resignation from @INCIndia (sic),” the leader wrote on Twitter on Monday morning, along with a copy of the letter, tagging Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The NPP is an ally of the BJP.
In the letter, Dr Lyngdoh pointed out that she has been “a foot soldier of the Congress for most part of my life”. “However, 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 the leadership to reflect on this. Sincere and honest attempts to lead such self-introspection I believe have failed,” the letter reads.
The Congress has “lost touch with the people of Meghalaya”, her letter further reads, adding, “… and I no longer believe it is the best platform for me to serve them.”
Meghalaya is set to vote early next year. Tripura is another northeastern state where assembly elections are likely to be held by March. The latest developments come a day after the BJP sounded the poll bugle in the two states with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vist.
Last month, three incumbent MLAs in Meghalaya – two from the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) and one from the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) – had resigned to join the BJP. The NPP’s Benedict Marak (Raksamgre) and Fairlene Sangma (Selsella), and Trinamool Congress legislator Himalaya Muktan Shangpliang (Mawsynram) had quit their parties. “All three of us are planning to join the BJP very shortly with the intention of bringing development to the state,” Shangpliang had tweeted at the time.
“We joined the BJP because we look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a significant role model. PM Modi can change things. We feel and we believe that things will change for Meghalaya,” HT had quoted him as saying in a report.
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