Shillong, Dec 23: The political scene is once again on the boil in Meghalaya, especially the Khasi and Jaintia Hills with the Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections round the corner. And so the old rivalries have been re-ignited and political posturing taking a centre-stage.
At the front of this rivalry are the Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress (or TMC), the latter a new entrant into the political setting led by former Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma, who was earlier associated with the Congress.
With TMC unable to grab the Gambegre seat in the recently held bye-election despite fielding a sitting GHADC MDC, speculations were rife that Dr Mukul may return to the Congress fold but the seasoned leader shot down the rumours saying the grand old party was ‘directionless’ and he had no plans to return.
This response has peeved the Meghalaya Congress, who is also fighting for its relevance as it currently has only 1 MLA in Meghalaya Assembly, and is not in power in any of the 3 ADCs in the State.
Responding to Dr Mukul’s remark, Meghalaya Congress chief and former Shillong MP, Vincent H Pala, on Monday claimed that TMC has become “irrelevant” in the politics of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.
According to him, the Congress is really not worried but leaves it to Dr Mukul on whether to come back to the grand old party or not. “We are not worried whether he (Mukul) will come back or not. We have no issues whether he comes back or not. It is up to him,” Pala said.
Stating that the Congress had won the Tura parliamentary seat in Garo Hills without Dr Mukul Sangma, Pala said, “Hopefully in Khasi and Jaintia Hills also this time, we should do well without Mukul. Let’s hope also in the future we can do better.”
Pressing forward his claim of TMC’s irrelevance in Khasi and Jaintia Hills region, Pala said, “Mukul doesn’t even have candidates for the upcoming ADC polls. This shows that the TMC is becoming irrelevant in the politics of Khasi and Jaintia Hills as its people have all joined the Congress. So that means Mukul has become irrelevant in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.”
