SHILLONG, OCT 1: UDP MLA Paul Lyngdoh on Thursday launched a scathing attack on party president Metbah Lyngdoh, holding his “narrow tunnel vision” responsible for the UDP’s decline from 12 MLAs to just 4.
Asked whether he would seek a leadership change, Paul said he had raised the issue much earlier.
“The call for change was championed by me during the last general elections. We had a direct contest between Metbah and myself. He won by 3 votes because I had just lost the 2013 general elections. After that, I kept confabulating with party leaders and said we need someone who has a vision beyond his constituency,” he said.
He alleged that Metbah’s focus remained confined to his own seat.
“You can’t have a party president interested only in creating a district for his constituency and his immediate neighbour represented at that time by Brolding Nongsiej. The only letter he signed was for his own induction into the cabinet,” Paul alleged.
“For all other political appointments, and you can cross-check with all MLAs, none got assignments through the party president. Somebody had to knock at Conrad K Sangma’s door, somebody had to go to Bah Prestone. Then why have a PP leader? These issues were festering,” he added.
The West Shillong legislator said he had been blunt about the crisis.
“I prefer to be blunt and straight to the point. I stated what I had to say, but it was ignored by the rank and file and finally the party has paid the price. Come on, from 12 to potentially one is a huge, huge fall,” he said.
On Metbah’s continuation as president, he remarked, “He will be the best to answer that because he had done something which set a precedent and now he wants to do something against the precedent he himself had set.”
