SHILLONG: Downplaying
reports of dissent within the party
,
chief minister Mukul Sangma on Wednesday said he is
confident Congress will retain power
in the state.
Meghalaya
goes to the polls early next year.
“I am telling you we are coming back with close to 40 seats in 2018. Watch my words,” Sangma told the media here.
His statement comes at a time when the prospects of the party are a little uncertain. Three Congress ministers, including president of the state unit and four-time chief minister DD Lapang, have announced they will not contest the upcoming polls. Four former cabinet ministers are not seeking re-election on Congress tickets.
Hitting out at those who intended to desert the Congress, the chief minister said, “Thousands of Congress supporters are betrayed (by such legislators). It is not a question of betraying Mr A or B, but it’s betraying thousands of Congress supporters who have given them an opportunity to serve them and the state.”
Congress leader Coming One Ymbon quit the Mukul Sangma-led cabinet on Tuesday, just four days ahead of the winter session of the Meghalaya assembly, which begins on December 8. Ymbon, a two-time sitting legislator of Raliang constituency, in West Jaintia Hills District, was sworn in along with Umsning MLA Celestine Lyngdoh as minister of the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government on August 4 last after two former ministers Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar were dropped by Sangma on August 3.