NEW DELHI: On a day when visiting West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee met PM Narendra Modi over Tripura issues, her party Trinamool Congress on late Wendesday inducted 12 Congress MLAs following a revolt by former Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma.
The departure of these legislators is a huge setback for Congress in Meghalaya.
Congress is now left with just 5 MLAs in the 60-member assembly.
Sangma who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya assembly, was livid with the Congress high command and Gandhis.
Sources in Congress said that poll strategist Prashant Kishore and I-PAC are behind the movie. IPAC is handling TMC’s campaign in Tripura and Goa after it helped the party win in West Bengal.
Sources however in TMC said that Kishor however won’t be given any role in the party yet as Banerjee doesn’t want the family grip to weaken with his entry. Kishor had earlier tried the same negotiations with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP and JDU while seeking a top party position.
He had briefly served as JDU vice president in Bihar before he was axed by CM Nitish Kumar, allegedly over secret parleys with his legislators and open revolt again him.
Meghalaya is due for elections with Tripura in 2023.
In 2018, Conrad Sangma, leader of the National People’s Party had formed government with the support of the UDP, BJP and other regional parties following a hung assembly.
TMC which had got 0.4 % vote share in 2018 could not open an account then.