Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah’s son Waibah Kyndiah has been denied Congress ticket for the 2008 Assembly elections. Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council Chief Executive member H S Shylla has been preferred over Kyndiah junior as the party candidate from Nongkrem constituency.

Though the Congress is yet to announce the list of candidates for the 2008 elections, Waibah said he was informed by a senior Congress leader from New Delhi that the party ticket would be allotted to Shylla. In 2003, Waibah was given the party ticket but he lost.

A tussle has been going on between Shylla and Waibah over the party ticket. Shylla had accused P R Kyndiah of trying to use his influence to get ticket for his son. Kyndiah, however, refuted the allegation and said the party high command and the party’s central election committee were the final authorities to decide on the allocation of ticket.

Almost all political parties in Meghalaya, except for the Congress, have announced the name of its candidates.