With the recent political developments in the state Congress, leader of the opposition, ex-Chief Minister and senior party figure Dr Mukul Sangma is keeping the people of Meghalaya, including his party colleagues, guessing as to what course he might take.
The appointment of Shillong MP Vincent Pala as the president of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee appears to have created a rift in the grand old party, with Dr Sangma refusing to be part of two separate party programmes last week.
Observers have interpreted this as a snub to Pala and there has been speculation that the seasoned politician might leave the party that he has been so closely tied to for more than a decade.
Although it has denied it in the past, some rumours doing the rounds suggest that the BJP is keen to snap up Dr Sangma. Both sides have made their mutual antagonism plain before.
There is also the possibility that he may join the Trinamool Congress (TMC) or even float a new political outfit. Or he may just realise that his best bet is to stick with the Congress ahead of the 2023 state elections.
The TMC option stands out, though, as Mamata Banerjee’s party had fought off a determined BJP to hold on to power in West Bengal in this year’s elections there. The TMC is now looking to expand its base in the North East and will be contesting the next Tripura polls.
Sushmita Dev, a former Congress parliamentarian from Silchar, Assam, and president of the All India Mahila Congress, had also joined the TMC.
With these developments it may only be natural that if Dr Sangma decides to leave the Congress he may plump for Banerjee’s party.
Though not a force in Meghalaya politics at the moment, TMC is not new to these parts. In 2004 when, Late Purno A. Sangma left the NCP, he joined Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and defeated Dr Sangma. However, the latter might also remember that Purno rejoined the NCP and then quit again in 2012 and, that time, his National People’s Party struggled to gain a foothold in Meghalaya politics, barely making a dent in the 2013 election, which allowed Congress and Dr Sangma to return triumphantly to power.
