Garo Hills Congress youth wing is up in arms against the party’s leadership; Burns effigies of MPCC President Vincent H Pala, Party leader Deborah C Marak, new joiner Saleng A Sangma and Billykid A Sangma
The youth wing of the Garo Hills Congress has threatened “mass resignation” if the 24-hour deadline to replace candidates is not met.
Angered over the distribution of party tickets to candidates for the forthcoming Assembly election on Feb. 27, the Garo Hills Congress youth wing on Friday burned the effigies of Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president Vincent H. Pala, party leader Deborah C. Marak, newcomer Saleng A. Sangma and Billykid A. Sangma.
The youth wing of the Garo Hills Congress has expressed displeasure over the allocation of electoral tickets in some constituencies where Congress loyalists were ignored and new entrants were given party tickets, and is incensed against the party leadership.
This is perhaps the rarest of rare occasions for the Congress to have its youth wing vehemently oppose the candidature of a few, even though the AICC has already given its nod.
According to the Youth Congress leader, the congress announced its first list of candidates on Wednesday, and legitimate party members who had applied for tickets were ignored and the selection process was conducted in favor of candidates from other parties.
Robert Sangma, General Secretary of the Youth Congress, said, “The selection of candidates was wrong, they were not in line with the ideology of the Congress party, if such things continue to happen, we will take big measures like today when we burned the effigies, and after two to three days we will conduct a mass resignation if they (Congress leadership) do not meet our demands.”
“We have given them a 24-hour deadline,” he said.
The Youth Congress leader said, “These candidates joined the party only to get the tickets at the last minute. What about the party loyalists?”