Shillong: Former Meghalaya Minister and senior BJP leader, John Antonius Lyngdoh quit the saffron party after being “sidelined, insulted and ostracised” by the party.
“The main reason for this resignation is because for the last 4 and a half years , I have felt sidelined, insulted and ostracized from the party , not once, not twice but time and again,” Lyngdoh noted in his resignation letter addressed to BJP Meghalaya president, Ernest Mawrie.
Lyngdoh joined the BJP in 2016 contested the 2018 Assembly elections from North Shillong constituency and lost narrowly by 406 votes to Adelberth Nongrum of the Khyun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Party.
Lyngdoh claimed that immediately after his defeat in the assembly election, Mawrie started to favour Rocky Hek, a political novice and nephew of former cabinet minister Hek, as an aspirant for the North Shillong seat.
Rocky Hek has quit the BJP and recently joined the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) to contest against the upcoming assembly polls.
“Under your leadership as the President of the party, I have felt a sense of dismay and unfortunately a sense of betrayal as well… Time and again, I have initiated a meeting and a talk with you but it never materialized,” Lyngdoh said.
However, Mawrie has countered these allegations saying Lyngdoh was “never sidelined,” but he failed to turn up for key party meetings for the past four and half years.
“It is not at all true that Lyngdoh was sidelined. In fact he was not an active member of the party though he was a state executive member,” the BJP president said.
