New Delhi: In late night meeting with Meghalaya Governor Ganga Prasad, the Congress has reportedly staked claims form government in the state. Many media houses earlier reported about the meeting between Congress leader and the Governor around at 10 pm on Saturday.
‘Congress is the single largest party in Meghalaya, must be invited to form the government,’ senior Congress leaders reportedly told the Governor.
CP Joshi and Vincent Pala were said to have met the Governor. Meanwhile, Congress veteran Ahmed Patel and Kamal Nath have been flown in from Delhi to ensure there’s no repeat of Manipur and Goa this time.
Another senior Party leader Mukul Wasnik was also present in Shillong, where all the leaders held talks with the local leadership, other parties and Independents.
The Congress' move comes in the wake of criticism in the past that the party was caught "napping" in Goa and Manipur, where despite emerging as the single-largest party it failed to form governments.
Sources said that Patel and Nath soon after reaching Shillong in the afternoon held discussions with party leaders, including outgoing chief minister Mukul Sangma. Both the leaders claimed that the Congress would form government in Meghalaya and was working towards it.
The Congress was in power in Meghalaya for five years and it hoped to get a majority this time too, which did not happen, Wasnik said. No party has got majority and parties with the same ideology should work together to form a government, he said.
Meanwhile, the credit for the rise of National People’s Party (NPP) from an insignificant contender winning just two seats in 2013 to a major challenger to ruling Congress, goes to Conrad Sangma. NPP, with 19 seats, emerged as the second-largest party this time, giving a tough fight to the ruling party, which got 21 seats.
Despite being the single largest party, political analysts say, Congress may not be able to form the government and may have to make way for an NPP-led government. Sangma is clear about the direction his party will take. “We are talking to like-minded people and I will not take names at this stage. Our newly-elected MLAs will have to sit down and deliberate,” he said. NPP has ruled out the possibility of a tie-up with Congress. Sangma told TOI, “Any alliance is highly unlikely...we fought against the Congress in this election.”
But he was ambiguous about BJP. The son of late Purno Agitok Sangma, who introduced the Manipur-based NPP in the electoral politics of Meghalaya, was not clear about his plans of aligning with the saffron party that had won only a couple of seats. “All options are open as of now,” he said.
Conrad along with his brother James, was first elected to the Meghalaya assembly on an NCP ticket in the 2008 state election. He later held several key portfolios in the state cabinet, including that of finance, power, tourism and IT, and presented his first annual budget for Meghalaya within 10 days of debuting as a minister.
Having been the leader of the opposition from 2009 to 2013, he is currently the MP from Tura—which he won in a by-election in 2016 after his father’s death. Speculations are rife about Conrad’s sister Agatha becoming the first woman chief minister of matrilineal Meghalaya, provided NPP is able to cobble up a coalition.
NPP—though an ally of the NDA at the Centre-—locked horns with BJP in many constituencies with Agatha winning the South Tura seat by defeating a saffron party candidate. Both Sangma siblings— Agatha and sitting legislator James—have emerged victorious, which many believe bear testimony to PA Sangma’s legacy.
Conrad is confident NPP will form the next government as people are tired of Congress rule and desperate for change. Congress has been in power in Meghalaya since 2003.
Meghalaya is one of the five states currently held by the Congress. The other states are Punjab, Karnataka and Mizoram, and Union territory Puducherry.
