Three Congress MLAs in Meghalaya join BJP ally NPP
Ronnie V. Lyngdoh, representing the Mylliem Assembly constituency, remains the lone legislator of the grand old party in the State
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma with two of the three MLAs who joined his National People’s Party from Congress. Photo: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
GUWAHATI
Three Congress MLAs in Meghalaya joined the National People’s Party (NPP), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Monday.
Their defection has helped the NPP reach the simple majority mark of 31 in the 60-member State Assembly and left Ronnie V. Lyngdoh, who represents the Mylliem constituency, as the lone Congress legislator.
This is the third jolt for Congress in Meghalaya since November 2021 when 12 of its 17 MLAs led by former Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma defected to the Trinamool Congress. The remaining five joined the NPP ahead of the 2023 State election.
A notification by Andrew Simons, the Commissioner and Secretary to the Meghalaya Assembly said Speaker Thomas A. Sangma recognised the merger of Congress MLAs Gabriel Wahlang, Charles Marngar, and Celestine Lyngdoh with the NPP. They were elected from the Nongstoin, Mawhati, and Umsning constituencies respectively.
In a separate notification, Mr. Simons said the merger application was accepted as the trio comprised two-thirds of the MLAs of the Congress in the 60-member House. The anti-defection law sanctions a merger if at least two-thirds of the members of a legislature party concerned shift allegiance to another.
“This [the joining of the three MLAs] is a boost for the party, reinforcing our commitment to serving the people and taking the State forward,” Chief Minister and the NPP’s national president, Conrad K. Sangma said.
The NPP won 26 seats in the 2023 Assembly election and added two more to its tally of legislators in the byelection. Nineteen of these seats are from the Garo Hills region, the western half of Meghalaya.
The Garo Hills comprises 24 of the State’s 60 Assembly seats and the 19 seats it bagged reaffirmed the NPP’s hold on this region until Congress wrested the Tura Lok Sabha seat this year. The loss of former Union Minister and the Chief Minister’s sister, Agatha Sangma to Saleng A. Sangma of Congress was a major setback for the NPP.
Saleng Sangma was one of five Congress MLAs. His resignation from the Gambegre seat after winning the Tura constituency left Congress with four legislators, three of whom joined the NPP on Monday.
The trio’s defection has helped the NPP expand its base in the Khasi Hills region, considered the party’s weak spot. There are speculations that two more from this region – both of the regional Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) – would join the NPP too.
This means the allies have become redundant for the NPP. They include 12 of the United Democratic Party, two each of the BJP and the HSPDP, and two independents.
The Chief Minister, however, said his party believed in “taking everyone along”.
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