In an interesting twist to the tale, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for induction of four Meghalaya Congress MLAs into the party. Madhav said the legislators have joined the party responding to Narendra Modi’s call -‘Meghalaya for Change-Meghalaya for BJP’.
“In Meghalaya today, 4 MLAs from Congress n other parties will join BJP together with other elected members n hundreds of supporters. ‘Meghalaya for Change – Meghalaya for BJP’ is PM’s call,” the BJP national general secretary tweeted.
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On December 30 last year, in a major blow to the Mukul Sangma-led Congress government in Meghalaya, five of its MLAs, including former deputy Chief Minister Rowell Lyngdoh, resigned from the State Assembly to join the National People’s Party (NPP), an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Three more legislators have also resigned from the Assembly to join the NPP, which include Remington Pyngrope from United Democratic Party and Independents Stephanson Mukhim and Hopeful Bamon.
The Congress MLAs, who gave up their assembly seats, are Sniawbhalang Dhar, Comingone Ymbon, Prestone Tynsong, Rowell Lyngdoh and Ngaitlang Dhar of Congress, Remington Pyngrope from UDP and Independents Stephanson Mukhim and Hopeful Bamon.
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The development comes ahead of the ensuing Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in February.
The Congress now has been left with 24 MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly.
Meanwhile, the State BJP is all set to release the names of some of its candidates in a couple of days.
The BJP would contest in maximum number of seats including all the 24 seats in Garo Hills.
However, the party will not contest in a few seats from Khasi-Jaintia Hills region.