Former Meghalaya Chief Minister and veteran politician DD Lapang on Sunday said that the statements made by Meghalaya PCC leaders Zenith Sangma and Celestine Lyngdoh on his resignation are false, baseless and unfounded.
Congress spokesperson Zenith Sangma had said on Thursday that DD Lapang “is not a stable man” and he resigned from the party to join the NPP.
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Four-time Congress Chief Minister Lapang resigned from the party on September 14. In a statement emailed to media Lapang also mentioned under what circumstances he was removed as a Meghalaya PCC president, which is one of the likely reasons behind his resignation.
“The AICC wanted to remove me as the President of MPCC, the AICC send Anil Thomas, one of the coordinators of the AICC to Meghalaya. Thomas came to Shillong to apprise me about the thoughts of AICC to replace senior and elderly leaders by appointing young leaders. He further said that the AICC President Rahul Gandhi wanted to meet me personally,” Lapang said.
“This practice of replacing elderly leaders by the AICC has been going on in many other states, having a close relationship with me and out of respect for my opinion they prefer to address the issue at a personal level. As a dedicated party member I agreed to meet Rahul Gandhi, Anil Thomas then went back to Delhi to fix a meeting with Gandhi and telephoned me that Rahul Gandhi gave me the appointment to meet him on Saturday.
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“I however refused to meet him on the given date as I had to attend special church programme on Sunday so he then fix the appointment on Tuesday. I proceed to Delhi, since Gandhi arrived very late on Tuesday, we met on Wednesday.
“During the meeting, I was made to understand what the high command wants. I agreed to step down, but I requested him to allow me to handover on a later date since the assembly election is on and the voting date is just a few days away.
“But Gandhi said that the arrangement has been made all over the country including Meghalaya everything is set, which I obediently agreed. I was on my way back to Shillong when I found that the notification approving C. Lyngdoh’s appointment as the new PCC was already out.
Regarding his decision not to contest the assembly election from Nongpoh constituency, Lapang said he saw the mind of the AICC to phase out senior and elderly leaders to replace by young ones.
“I made a decision to project a new young leader Meralborn Syiem who will have a better place in the AICC as it will be in consonance with the present policy. I worked very hard which also reflected in the Meralborn Syiem’s victory by a big margin,” Lapang added.