IMPHAL: The Congress-led Democratic Alliance Government in Meghalaya is heading for a fresh bout of political crisis with Chief Minister J.D. Rymbai refusing to step down and make way for his predecessor D.D. Lapang as directed by the Congress high command.

Mr. Rymbai's followers, who met in Shillong on Wednesday, decided to ask the party central leadership to follow the same procedure when Dr. Lapang was replaced by Mr. Rymbai.

Trouble began on Monday when two emissaries of the central leadership — Union Minister and AICC general secretary in-charge of northeast Oscar Fernandes and AICC secretary Maj. (retd.) Ved Prakash — asked Mr. Rymbai to step down.

The Chief Minister told reporters that it was a courtesy call and that the two leaders told him verbally that the high command wanted him to step down. He refused and decided to ask for a written communication.

Earlier, on January 17, Maj. Ved Prakash flew down to Shillong to conduct a secret ballot among the Congress legislators on the leadership issue. He went back the same day with a sealed envelope containing the ballot papers and submitted it to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The high command, however, decided to defer a decision till the Manipur Assembly elections were over.

"Internal matter"

Mr. Fernandes, who was here to oversee the government formation, told The Hindu that he would not like to comment on Mr. Rymbai's remarks, as it was an "internal matter" of the party. He, however, said the Chief Minister had sought time till Thursday and was likely to go to Delhi to discuss the matter with the party.

Home Minister R.G. Lyngdoh told The Hindu over phone that Wednesday's meeting, attended by 12 MLAs, urged the high command that the Congress president should invite the Chief Minister to discuss with him the decision to replace him. A senior leader such as Pranab Mukherjee should be deputed to Shillong to meet alliance leaders to find out whether they would continue to support whoever is elected by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). After obtaining the support of the coalition partners, the AICC observers should call a meeting of the CLP to elect a new leader. Mr. Lyngdoh said this was the procedure followed when Dr. Lapang was replaced by Mr. Rymbai and "we want the same procedure to be followed."

Mr. Rymbai replaced Dr. Lapang on June 15 last, ending a 11-day crisis that witnessed a revolt by Congress MLAs against the latter. However, since Mr. Rymbai took over the reins, at least 15 legislators — six of them who backed him against Dr. Lapang — began demanding the reinstatement of Dr. Lapang.

Mr. Rymbai told reporters that there was no question of defying the high command's directive but he and other party MLAs only wanted the "established procedure" to be followed. The Chief Minister is scheduled to go to Delhi on March 5 to attend a meeting of the Planning Commission.

In the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly, the Congress has 29 while its coalition partners, the United Democratic Party (UDP) has nine and the Meghalaya Democratic Party and KHNAM two each.

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