AICC leader meets dissidents, CM; steps taken to resolve row

Shillong, June 11 (UNI) AICC secretary in-charge Meghalaya Major Ved Prakash here today said all steps had been taken to sort out the leadership issue in the state after around 20 Congress MLAs asked AICC president Sonia Gandhi to replace Chief Minister DD Lapang.

However, the AICC leader refused to explain the formula to resolve the political turmoil.

Maj Prakash was rushed to here after the dissident Congress MLAs demanded Mr Lapang be replaced by Meghalaya Parliamentary Affairs Minister JD Rymbai.

Union Minister Oscar Fernandes' is scheduled to visit here tomorrow, the day fixed for a crucial Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting.

Maj Prakash held a closed door meeting with the sixteen Congress dissident MLAs and Mr Lapang at a hotel here. He met the rebel Congress MLAs and the Chief Minister separately After the meeting with Mr Lapang and his Cabinet colleagues and Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president Onwardly Nongtdu, he said, ''I have listened patiently to both sides and would resolve the matter in three-days time.'' ''We have decided to meet again tomorrow to sort out the issue,'' he added.

Mr Lapang in his meeting with Maj Prakash, which lasted for nearly two hours, said the dissident group demanded his replacement mainly because some MLAs are aspiring for a ministerial berth.

However, the rebel Congress MLAs informed the AICC leader on their stand to change the leadership in the state accusing Mr Lapang of failure in all aspects.

''We told him that we do not have faith in the leadership of Mr Lapang and decided not to compromise with our demand,'' one of the rebel MLA Mr Beckstar K Sangma said.

With the dissident Congress MLAs maintaining their tough stand on the issue, Congress party sources said the political turmoil would be sorted out only after the crucial CLP meet.

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