Dimapur | February 8 : Former Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Nagaland and recipient of Padmashree Award, Asungba Sangtam has confirmed to The Morung Express that he has applied for the Congress ticket to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland.
The former MP was, however, not able to say if he would get the ticket pointing out that there was a “process” the party needed to go through before awarding it to anyone. Affirming his position, Asungba announced that he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Congress ticket and went on to justify his choice of party by saying that the party was a secular party and had a soft corner for minorities.
Talking about the forthcoming election, Asungba maintained that it is very important for the Naga people to make a wise decision, cutting across party affiliations as the state had only one seat to the Parliament.
He added a caution that if the state nakes the mistake of electing “a bench warmer” on party lines, the public would get nothing.
“The Naga public must vote for someone who can bring something for them” he reiterated. He also highlighting some of the ‘developments’ he brought to the state in the cellular phone connection, air connectivity, Rajdhani and Shadhabdi Express.
On being queried about the present Lok Sabha MP, W. Wangyuh Konyak as another contender for the ticket, Asungba said that as far as he was aware, Wangyuh is not even a primary member of the Congress party. “To start with, I don’t even know if it is the correct procedure to apply for the party ticket” Asungba remarked. He also denied that Wangyuh might be a better choice for the party considering last Lok Sabha election’s results by remarking that if he had received a fair support across party lines and factions, ‘I would have won the election’. Despite all odds against him with booth capturing, Asungba said he had still been able to secure more than 2 lakh votes. "
Asungba dismissed allegations about him not being a “grass root leader” despite being well-connected in Delhi. He said the most important qualification needed in a state’s representative to Delhi, was someone who understood the ‘ins and outs’ of Delhi politics. The grass-root leaders are the members of the State Assembly but if the state wants to send someone to Delhi, he must be someone who knows the limits of Delhi politics, he countered.
However, Asungba maintains that he still has support of the grass root people which was depicted in his being elected by the local people by astounding majority during the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha election.
The former MP was, however, not able to say if he would get the ticket pointing out that there was a “process” the party needed to go through before awarding it to anyone. Affirming his position, Asungba announced that he wanted to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Congress ticket and went on to justify his choice of party by saying that the party was a secular party and had a soft corner for minorities.
Talking about the forthcoming election, Asungba maintained that it is very important for the Naga people to make a wise decision, cutting across party affiliations as the state had only one seat to the Parliament.
He added a caution that if the state nakes the mistake of electing “a bench warmer” on party lines, the public would get nothing.
“The Naga public must vote for someone who can bring something for them” he reiterated. He also highlighting some of the ‘developments’ he brought to the state in the cellular phone connection, air connectivity, Rajdhani and Shadhabdi Express.
On being queried about the present Lok Sabha MP, W. Wangyuh Konyak as another contender for the ticket, Asungba said that as far as he was aware, Wangyuh is not even a primary member of the Congress party. “To start with, I don’t even know if it is the correct procedure to apply for the party ticket” Asungba remarked. He also denied that Wangyuh might be a better choice for the party considering last Lok Sabha election’s results by remarking that if he had received a fair support across party lines and factions, ‘I would have won the election’. Despite all odds against him with booth capturing, Asungba said he had still been able to secure more than 2 lakh votes. "
Asungba dismissed allegations about him not being a “grass root leader” despite being well-connected in Delhi. He said the most important qualification needed in a state’s representative to Delhi, was someone who understood the ‘ins and outs’ of Delhi politics. The grass-root leaders are the members of the State Assembly but if the state wants to send someone to Delhi, he must be someone who knows the limits of Delhi politics, he countered.
However, Asungba maintains that he still has support of the grass root people which was depicted in his being elected by the local people by astounding majority during the 12th and 13th Lok Sabha election.
Asungba Sangtam also lashed out at NPF ticket contender, C. M Chang’s remark that a ruling party candidate would win the election by saying that the Naga public should not be underestimated. “If they think that just because the regional party is in ruling they can make use of muscle power and money power that they underestimate the Naga public.”
Nagas are not fools anymore he says adding that there were a lot of educated young people now who wanted infrastructure, development and better opportunities and facilities.
So if the NPF was of the view that their candidate would win on the basis of being the ruling party, Asungba remarked that they couldn’t be any more of the mark from reality.