The Congress for the upcoming Meghalaya Assembly election will not hold big rallies nor will it have star campaigners but instead it will focus to connect with the voters, a senior party leader said on Sunday. With 80 per cent of our candidates new faces contesting the assembly election for the first time, the Congress will focus on visiting houses of the voters and holding small rallies at local community level to connect with the voters so that they could know their candidates, Meghalaya Congress president Vincent H Pala said.
We will not have star campaigners and there will be no big political rallies. Instead, we will focus and adapt to what is best in the political dynamics of the state. People here prefer to get to know their candidates more than their party affiliation," Pala told PTI. The Meghalaya Congress president said he himself will not be hosting big rallies in the Sutnga-Saipung constituency from where he is contesting the Assembly election."I will be attending constituency-based rallies and party meetings convened by party candidates and their supporters," he said. Pala recalled the setback the party suffered in 2021 when 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs left the party and joined the Trinamool Congress and how the remaining five who were suspended for their anti-party activities also deserted the party. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress had won 21 seats in the 60-member Assembly, but subsequently, all its legislators joined other parties, including the Trinamool Congress and the ruling National People's Party. The Meghalaya Assembly is scheduled for February 27 and results will be declared on March 2.