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Congress loses 12 Meghalaya MLAs in a huge jolt. They team up with Mamata’s TMC
Wednesday’s development comes two months after speculations surfaced that Sangma was upset with the Congress leadership and was planning to quit the party and join TMC. At that time the former CM had rubbished the reports and said they were mere speculation.
The Congress party in Meghalaya suffered a jolt on Wednesday night with 12 of its 17 MLAs in the state, including former chief minister Mukul Sangma, switching sides and joining the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
With the sudden move, TMC which had practically no presence in the north-eastern state becomes the largest opposition party in the 60-member house. The state is ruled by the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, which is led by the National People’s Party and has BJP as a minor partner.
Senior Congress leaders in Meghalaya including Sangma and state unit chief Vincent H Pala didn’t take calls, while people familiar with the development informed that the Congress MLAs led by the former chief minister have already submitted their resignations to Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh.
Wednesday’s development comes two months after speculations surfaced that Sangma was upset with the Congress leadership and was planning to quit the party and join TMC. At that time the former CM had rubbished the reports and said they were mere speculation.
Sangma was unhappy at being sidelined during appointment of Pala to a party post in August and had started skipping Congress events in Meghalaya. There were also rumours that he was looking at joining other parties including the BJP.
