Meghalaya CM says reduced victory margin at Ampati a cause of

Unfazed by defeat of his party in the hands of Congress in bypoll for Ampati seat, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said it was rather a matter of concern for the Opposition as their winning margin has come down from 9000 votes to just a little over 3000 this time.

Congress candidate Miani D Shira won the bye-election from Ampati Assembly seat vacated by her father Mukul Sangma early this year.

She defeated National Peoples Party (NPP) candidate Clement G Momin by 3191 votes.

"The fact that the winning margin went down from 9,000 to a margin of 3000 is something which is concerning the Congress party. They would also looking back and say how come the margin have been drop so much," Conrad told mediapersons here.

 

Conrad is heading a coalition government with BJP and some regional parties in Meghalaya after February poll.

He said Congress has been holding this seat for the past 6 terms.

"I am happy that we have been able to considerably reduce the margin that they had and I think it is a big gain for us. It was an election started with an advantage as it is in Williamnagar also but we manage to win Williamnagar but here we also gained 5000 votes in Ampati from 8000 we have touched 12,000 votes," he said.

The Chief Minister admitted that it was an uphill task to defeat the Congress and said, "We worked hard and tried to explain to the people that change is already taken place in the state and Ampati needs to follow."

Congratulating Miani, Conrad thanked the people who voted for both the candidates.

The Chief Minister however, said, that the NPP winning the Williamnagar seat last month was a major boost to the past as the seat primarily was a Congress seat.

Dismissing any hope for the Congress, which became the single largest party, of forming the government with any of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance allies, the NPP president said, "Our party and coalition partners are very much together and we have committed ourselves till the end of five years term," he said.

"We are 38 in numbers and we are in tact, go ask any of them," he said.

"The coalition partners and all people that we are working together that we are very much committed to our cause and committed to what we are doing together and we will be intact and complete our term and ensure we take the state forward," the Chief Minister said.

Refuting Congress' claim that the MDA government will last for a few months, Conrad said, "At this point in time, obviously the Congress has to give some kind of a hope to their people that they will come back."

Spelling out his governmen's priority, he said, "We are focused on road infrastructure, we had meeting with NHIDCL and MoRTH in delhi. Therefore our commitment of ensuring road infrastructure is there."

He said, "More than close to 1000 towers will be coming up. So infrastructures are moving ahead and we are working very hard on other infrastructure like power we are ensuring that within this calendar year all houses will be connected with electricity.