The resignation of five Congress MLAs and three other sitting legislators from the Meghalaya Assembly, who are set to join the National People’s Party (NPP) on January 4 at Polo Grounds in Shillong has boost the morale of the party.
NPP is upbeat that such a move demonstrates that there is utter chaos in the political landscape of the State with leaders looking for an alternative.
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“The resignation of eight MLAs which comprises 10 per cent of the State Assembly members indicates that they have lost faith in the leadership of Mukul Sangma,” said Conrad Sangma, chief of NPP at Shillong, while welcoming group of NPP leaders from Jaintia Hills at the party office on Friday evening.
Conrad said that the eight leaders decided to resign as legislators just ahead of the election as they are well connected to the grassroots and understand the pulse of the people.
“After taking opinion from the grassroots they decided to join NPP as it is the only political party, which is an alternative. The leaders who are joining NPP have worked very hard and they want to fulfill the aspiration of the people to form a new Government,” added Conrad.
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The NPP chief also said that elections were very difficult to predict but since all the candidates are going to perform very well, NPP would emerge as the single largest party.
Clarifying that NPP is fighting election of its own, Conrad said, “NPP as a party has its own ideology. We are fielding candidates in all constituencies of the state. We are not A or B team of BJP. The fact that we are contesting of our own should be message that we have no alliance with the BJP”.
When asked if NPP would form any alliance post poll with BJP or Congress, Conrad said, “Let us cross the bridge of election. We are confident that we would secure the magic numbers to form the next government.”
The opposition in Meghalaya is playing the card of BJP as ‘Hindu party’ and since NPP is an alliance partner of the BJP-led Government in Manipur, the Congress is leaving no stones unturned to create ‘confusion’ and ‘misinformation’ amongst the electorates.
The eight legislators who resigned their membership in the State Assembly included Siawbhalang Dhar (Nartiang), Comingone Ymbon (Rali-ang), Hopeful Bamon (Sutnga Saipung), Steph-anson Mukhim (Amla-rem), Prestone Tynsong (Pynursula), Remington Pyngrope (Mawkynriew), Rowell Lyngdoh (Mawky-rwat) and Ngaitlang Dhar (Umroi).
Veteran Congress leader and former deputy Chief Minister Rowell Lyngdoh, who is amongst the five MLAs who quit the Congress, announced that all the eight MLAs would join the NPP at a rally on January 4.
Mukul downplayed the desertion, claiming that it wouldn’t affect the prospects of the Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections but there are speculations that Congress party mood is already dampened with such a move.