SHILLONG, Oct 14 - Kickstarting a campaign for the seven vacant seats in two tribal autonomous district councils in Meghalaya, the ruling Congress today expressed confidence to win all seats.
�We stand united and we will win all the seven seats,� MPCC chief DD Lapang told reporters after a party meeting held here to launch the campaign for the bypolls.
He said that the candidates for the seats were selected in just one sitting of the party which showed unity of the party.
Echoing similar views, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the party is gearing up and taking stock of the situation to acclimatise party workers and the candidates with issues and initiatives of the government.
Stating that the party manifesto was also discussed during the meeting, Sangma said the election manifesto will be the guiding principle � �to look at where we are, how we are trying to fulfill our promises and how the party is responding to various issues and accordingly resolve them�.
Asked on the performance of the Congress, he said, �Election is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the people on various important issues.�
Stating that the Congress always stood firm to protect the interest of microscopic communities including the tribals in NE region, Sangma said, �Every good thing that happened in the NE has complete connect with the Congress. No good thing has happened without the Congress.�
According to him, States like Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and others are all �protected� because of the constitutional provision which is an �offshoot of the farsightedness and vision of Congress leaders�.
The bye-election was necessitated after seven of the eight legislators who held two elected offices resigned as members of the KHADC and JHADC following the passage of the Prevention of Disqualification (Members of Legislative Assembly of Meghalaya) (Amendment) Act, 2015, which seeks to end holding of dual posts by the MLAs, last year.
