D D Lapang quits Congress after 40 years, but that's no way to say goodbye

Lapang's background is somewhat similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

The venerable D D Lapang, a Congressman for 40 years and Chief Minister of Meghalaya four times, has left the party. What’s surprising is not that he has quit the Congress but the way he has done it.

A few years ago, the veteran, now 84, had confessed that he was under pressure from loved ones to retire because his health no longer permitted the intensive engagement that politics demands. 

But after that he fought another election, loath to give up the unique place he has carved out for himself in the politics of Meghalaya — he has lost only one assembly