Three of Congress’s four MLAs in Meghalaya have joined the National People’s Party, taking it to a simple majority in the state Assembly. The three MLAs – Celestine Lyngdoh, Charles Marngar and Gabriel Wahlang – officially joined the NPP in the presence of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday. Earlier, Congress state chief Vincent Pala, apprehending that the MLAs would switch parties, had summoned the three for a meeting. The two who did not show up – Nongstoin MLA Wahlang and Mawhati MLA Marngar – were subsequently suspended for six years from the party. Meghalaya Speaker Thomas Sangma notified that the move by the three MLAs was permitted as a “merger” as opposed to defection, since this amounted to more than two-thirds of the Congress’s MLAs joining the NPP. Chief Minister Sangma said in a post on social media: “The induction of the Congress MLAs to our party is a true demonstration of the faith in our government. The merger of Congress MLAs to NPP has increased our strength to 31 in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.” This marks a significant shot in the arm to the NPP, which had failed to win either of the two Lok Sabha seats from Meghalaya in the recent parliamentary elections. The party lost the Tura Lok Sabha seat, which had been represented by members of Sangma’s family since 1977 apart from a two-year gap between 1989 and 1991, to the Congress. It also failed to capitalise on the anti-incumbency in the Shillong LS seat, which was held by the Congress for three terms. Instead, it was the rising regional party, Voice of the People’s Party, that managed to pull off a victory there. The move by the three MLAs is also significant because it puts the NPP in a much stronger position in the government, which it had only been able to form after patching together a coalition following last year’s state elections. The NPP had emerged as the single-largest party after the elections with 26 seats, and formed the government in coalition with the United Democratic Party with 11 MLAs, the People’s Democratic Front with two MLAs, the BJP with two MLAs and the HSPDP with two MLAs. Now, the NPP is in simple majority in the House. The Congress’s only remaining member of the state Assembly is Mylliem MLA Ronnie Lyngdoh.
