SHILLONG, March 17 � With the revolt in Meghalaya Congress refusing to die down, Chief Minister D D Lapang today rushed to the national capital where he would meet top AICC leaders in a bid to placate the rebels.
Lapang will meet AICC secretary in-charge of Meghalaya, Luizinho Falerio and Shillong MP and Union Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent Pala, who are reportedly mediating between the rebel MLAs and the Congress High Command, party sources said.
Later, Lapang may also meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi�s political secretary Ahmed Patel and if need be, even the Congress chief, they said.
Most of the nine disgruntled legislators of the total 27 Congress MLAs camping in Delhi demanding accommodation in the Congress-led Lapang Ministry, returned today.
�I will be meeting AICC leaders as well as the (disgruntled) MLAs and discuss their grievances. It is a family matter, and there is a little bit of problem in every family,� Lapang had said on Monday.
Maintaining that the High Command�s instruction was the �final word�, Lapang said that the rebel MLAs were demanding that the three Independent MLAs and the lone MLA from Khyun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement be dropped and senior Congress MLAs accommodated in the Council of Ministers in the Congress-led government.
The rebel MLAs demanded a berth in the Ministry and dropping of the three Independents and Khnam MLA Paul Lyngdoh, as the Congress and its ally United Democratic Party had enough numbers to give a stable government.
�If Lapang cannot drop the Ministers, he should step down,� one of the rebel MLAs said over phone from Delhi. � PTI
