Will former Mawsynram MLA Himalaya M. Shangpliang leave the ruling NPP?
This question arises after the NPP today announced the name of State cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh as the party’s candidate for the Lok Sabha election from Shillong seat.
It may be mentioned that Shangpliang left the BJP in September and joined the NPP with an eye on the ticket for the Lok Sabha poll from Shillong seat.
However, today’s announcement by the NPP has shattered his dream.
It remains to be seen if the former IAS officer will quit the NPP.
Currently, Shangpliang is the adviser to the Education Department. He was appointed to the post soon after he joined the NPP.
The doubt regarding NPP ticket for Shangpliang surfaced ever since the name of former Mawhati MLA Dasakhiat Lamare came up as one of the ticket aspirants.
What ended Shangpliang’s hope was when the NPP leadership recently hinted that Ampareen Lyngdoh may be the party’s choice for Lok Sabha poll ticket.
Shangpliang had changed four political parties since he took a plunge in politics in 2018.
He was elected as MLA from Mawsynram on the Congress ticket in 2018. He switched over to the Trinamool Congress in 2021.
Later he left the Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP to contest the 2023 Assembly elections.
After losing the Mawsynram election, he joined the BJP and reportedly sought a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Shillong seat.
He resigned from the BJP in September this year. Then State BJP president Ernest Mawrie said that Shangpliang quit the party as he could not get assurance of a Lok Sabha poll ticket.
Meanwhile, State NPP president Prestone Tynsong today denied that the party approached Trinamool Congress vice president and former Umroi legislator George B. Lyngdoh to join and contest the election from the NPP.
Tynsong said that neither he nor the NPP national president Conrad Sangma had approached Lyngdoh.
