The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not react hastily to rife speculation that party member and ex-Mawsynram MLA Himalaya Shangpliang is set to defect to the National People’s Party (NPP).
Shangpliang took early retirement from the civil service before winning the Mawsynram seat in 2018 on a Congress Party ticket. He then defected to the Trinamool Congress midway through the Assembly term but then switched allegiances once again to the BJP prior to the 2023 polls.
However, he lost the election by a narrow margin. Nevertheless, he was rewarded with an advisory role in the Education Department by the new state government.
Media reports of late have suggested that Shangpliang will pay back the ruling NPP by joining them.
Today, BJP state president Ernest Mawrie declined to comment much on the topic.
He stated that he has not received any official communication from the Mawsynram unit or from Shangpliang himself.
Asked why Shangpliang has not been seen in many recent party programmes, Mawrie said that the former legislator has cited duties that he has been given by the government.
However, the subject of the missing Shangpliang has been put up in the BJP’s disciplinary action committee.
