SHILLONG: The fight within the Congress party for tickets to contest forthcoming Lok Sabha elections is hotting up now with two prominent leaders of the party, Deborah Marak and Zenith Sangma approaching the party leadership to contest the election from Tura seat in the state.
Former Cabinet Minister, Deborah Marak who lost Williamnagar Bye elections last year filed her application for nomination to contest Lok Sabha elections from Tura constituency. On the same lines, Zenith Sangma too filed the application to contest the polls from the same constituency.
However, Deborah Marak downplayed any infighting within the party as Zenith Sangma too have filed the application.
She said that the Congress party will collectively fight the Lok Sabha elections for both the Shillong and Tura seats even as she added that the Congress party would give a tough fight to the opposition party in Tura and Shillong.
It may be mentioned that the Congress party for the past many years have been trying to win the Lok Saba elections from Tura constituency which is considered as a strong bastion for the late leader, Purno Sangma.
However, on most of the occasions, the margin of defeat for Congress was huge in Tura.
It was also learnt that the name of CLP leader Mukul Sangma is doing rounds as the probable candidate of the Congress from Tura parliamentary seat as some party leaders and MLAs are proposing his name to contest the elections
Apart from Tura, there is a strong fight for Shillong seat as well. The sitting MP Vincent Pala is looking to contest the election from Congress for a third consecutive time while former Home Minister, HDR Lyngdoh who lost the last Assembly elections from Sohiong is also keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls
Sources from the party said that the all the names which would be filed for the Lok Sabha elections would be forwarded to the All India Congress Committee and the party headquarters in New Delhi will finally take a call on who should contest the elections from the two seats of Meghalaya.