EXCLUSIVE
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Lone Congress legislator from Garo Hills Saleng A Sangma and MPCC working president and former Cabinet Minister Deborah Marak remains as Congress favourite for the allotment of ticket for Tura Lok Sabha seat. Meghalaya Pradesh Congress committee President Vincent H Pala said although the party is yet to take a call in this regard, some of the leaders and office bearers have proposed their names.
Talking exclusively to Meghalaya News 24, Pala said the names of as many as four prospective candidates for the Tura seat are proposed by the state congress.
“Somebody proposed the name of madam Deborah, Some of our leaders proposed the name of Saleng, while some has proposed names of some Government officials retired very soon, so four names have come to me as these are the proposals given to me by the office bearers, leaders, workers and different individual levels, but the decision we will take when we go to Garo Hills, when we call for applications,” the MPCC President said.
Asked about the reason for identifying Saleng and Deborah, he said,”That is the proposal given to us by the leaders and workers, Some says Deborah contested last time and she lost by a small margin, at the same time she is loyal to the party and serving as working president of the party, she should contest. While some say Saleng is an MLA and after Dr Mukul he is the face of Congress in Garo Hills, so he should contest, that’s the views of leaders from Garo Hills but the decision will be taken very soon, once we start calling applications.”
“We had series of meetings with all our Congress leaders, MLAs, the MDCs and the office bearers and again we will be having on the 12th of January in Shillong and on the 8th of January we are going to Garo Hills, so we have been on the job for quite some time and hopefully now we are to finalise the candidates in both in Shillong as well as in Tura,” the MPCC President said.
“So we are in the process of finalising but preparation we have already instructed our block and the districts. Khasi Hills, they had a series of meetings, so we are on the job,” he added.
While refusing to divulge the details, the preparation for the Lok Sabha elections as the party will have a meeting in Tura on 8th of January to know the ground reality, while in Shillong the meeting will be on 12th January.
Asked, he said, “Normally once the election commission announce, then only the party will declare the candidates but preparation and all even in Delhi they have started preparation for the elections, so I hope this time the elections will be much better than previous elections if you see overall scenario in India the same will be in Meghalaya also.
“Definitely Tura we will be contesting, but who will be the candidate, that’s why I am going to Garo Hills on 8th, then we will get the views and the feedback from the ground level and then we will also call for the applications, so today it’s too early to say who will be contesting,” Pala added.
Promising to fight the election differently, MPCC president said the application will be called very soon as he said the picture will be clearer by January, 2024.