Lapang breathes easy as Sangma pledges support

In a related development, Parliamentary Affairs Minister J D Rymbai, the dissidents choice for Lapangs replacement, has faxed a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi informing that he was ready to take over the Chief Ministers post from Lapang. Dissident Congress legislators are demanding that Lapang be replaced with Rymbai.

The AICC had dispatched Oscar Fernandes and Ved Prakash to defuse the crisis. Fernandes and Prakash confabulated with the dissidents on Monday to work out an amicable solution within the Congress party’s framework.

The dissidents, however, didn’t relent, as they stuck to their demand of replacing Lapang. After the meeting with the dissidents an informal Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting was held in the presence of the two AICC observers and Meghalaya Congress president O L Nongtdu.

The central observers managed to give Lapang a breather with the dissidents accepting their suggestion that change of leadership should be left to the decision of AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Fernandes assured the dissidents that a decision on replacing Lapang with Rymbai would be communicated by June 14, two days before the Meghalaya Assembly meet. However, when all top Congress leaders today met Sangma to seek his support, the dissidents were stunned. They had not anticipated such a move from Lapang.

A year back, the dissidents had made a similar demand of replacing Lapang. But AICC came to his rescue and dissident leader R G Lyngdoh didn’t have the number to ensure Lapangs ouster. However, with 20 legislators on its side, dissidents were confident that Lapang would be replaced. But today it appears that AICC is firm in not replacing Lapang.