The remaining five Congress MLAs in Meghalaya on Tuesday joined the ruling National People's Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, which is backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) formally handed over a letter of support to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
"We the undersigned MLAs of the Indian National Congress have decided to join the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) government today the 8th of February, 2022. We wish to support you and the MDA to strengthen the government's arms and decision making so as to ensure that our joined efforts will take the state forward, in the general interest of its citizens," the letter stated.
The letter was signed by CLP leader Ampareen Lyngdoh, and MLAs PT Sawkmie, Mayralborn Syiem, KS Marbaniang and Mohendro Rapsang. A copy of the letter was also sent to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
"The five @INCMeghalaya (Meghalaya Congress) MLAs have decided to join the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance administration in the benefit of the people of the state, particularly our individual constituencies," Lyngdoh tweeted along with a photo of the Congress MLAs with the chief minister.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Lyngdoh said the remaining Congress MLAs took this decision for the benefit of the people. "We were ditched and nobody took any action. So we've taken this decision for the benefit of the people of our individual constituencies," she said. said
Meanwhile, it was on three months ago that the Congress had 17 MLAs in Meghalaya. However, in November last year, the grand old party was left with only five MLAs in the 60-member assembly after 12 legislators, including former chief minister Mukul Sangma, defected to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Now, the party has zero MLAs in the north-eastern state.
Back when the 12 MLAs switched to the TMC, Mukul Sangma had said that the decision to join Mamata Banerjee's party was a collective one. He said that they have decided to join the party after analyzing ways to ‘serve’ people better. “The elected public servants have commitment and responsibility to serve people. After extensive analysis, we have decided to join TMC. The work done by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is commendable,” said Sangma.
According to reports, Sangma was upset over the appointment of Shillong Lok Sabha Member Vincent H. Pala as the state Congress President in September.
However, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that it was a ‘game of money’. “The BJP and the TMC had given hefty sums to the Congress leaders for the defection. The main agenda of both the BJP and the TMC is to break the Congress,” said Adhir.
