The much-awaited Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting tonight failed to arrive at a decision on replacing Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang, thus giving the beleaguered CM a breather.AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes who arrived here today and met dissident leaders in his hotel before the CLP meet, said that the decision to replace or continue with Lapang would now be taken by AICC president Sonia Gandhi. He said he was cancelling his proposed trip to other parts of the North-East to fly back to New Delhi, to convey the message of the dissident CLP leaders. He also assured that the AICC chief’s decision would be conveyed to the state Congress before the Assembly Session starts on June 16.Earlier today, the dissident camp had mellowed down from their stand yesterday that they would not allow a one-on-one meeting with the Central leaders. They had turned down such a request from AICC observer Ved Prakash, who had arrived here on Saturday night.Today, however, they agreed to a one-on-one meeting, both with Fernandes and Prakash, at Pinewood Hotel where the two leaders were staying. However, the group did not yield any ground on their demand to replace the CM. The AICC was looking at pacifying the dissidents and hammering out a solution to allow Lapang to continue. Meghalaya Pradesh Congress president O L Nongtdu was also hopeful of the dissident Congress legislators agreeing to a ‘‘compromise formula’’.Just before his meeting with the Congress dissidents, Fernandes told The Indian Express, ‘‘I am meeting with Congress legislators (he refused to call them dissidents) and we will decide whatever is best for the party.’’ He also ducked a query on whether a new CM would be chosen at the CLP meeting . One of the 20 dissident leaders had told this correspondent prior to the CLP meeting that the anti-Lapang camp would try to force an election to elect a new leader tonight itself. He said, ‘‘Why should we delay the process of replacing Lapang?’’ A pro-Lapang legislator, however, said the process of choosing a new leader must have the concurrence of AICC president Sonia Gandhi and even if somebody were to be elected tonight, it would have to be approved by the AICC chief. The pro-Lapang camp is banking on the AICC headquarters to save Lapang, as it had early last year.
