When all the five Congress legislators in Meghalaya announced their decision recently to extend support to the Conrad Sangma-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government that includes the BJP, the party surprised the most was the Congress. The high command in Delhi was reportedly completely in the dark that its legislators were going to cross over to a side that includes the BJP. Following the move, sources said, the Congress MLAs got a call from the AICC-in charge asking why they had not consulted the party. However, the development at a time when the Congress and BJP are fighting tooth-and-nails in the coming elections to five states, including neighbouring Manipur, was not really palatable to the BJP either. A day after the Congress MLAs joined the MDA, Meghalaya BJP chief Ernest Mawrie told PTI: "How can a lion and a deer drink from the same water source at the same time? The BJP and the Congress are complete opposites in ideology and functioning.” Mawrie added that he would talk to CM Sangma about it. Sangma, now sitting pretty a year ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, may not be quite receptive though. The latest break from the Congress comes three months after 12 of its legislators (including former CM Mukul Sangma) jumped ship to the Trinamool Congress. Even as his main rival has dwindled, Conrad Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) has been going from strength to strength. In 2018, it had won just one seat less than the Congress, by getting 20 out of 60 constituencies in the House. Yet, it had formed the government with the help of the United Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Front, Hill State People’s Democratic Party, and Independents, apart from the BJP. Again, in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections last year, the NPP had pipped the Congress, the single-largest party, to form the new executive committee with the help of Independents. Now, the Congress MLAs choosing to hitch their wagon to the NPP rather than the TMC, unlike their counterparts earlier, is another sign of Sangma's success in projecting his NPP as a viable alternative to the Congress and BJP in the Northeast. Next up is the Manipur election, where the NPP is contesting more than 40 seats on its own, a big jump from nine last time. While the five Congress MLAs to have switched sides now are technically still the Congress, as the entire lot has turned over, there are murmurs that at least three, including Ampareen Lyngdoh, are talking to the NPP. Perhaps anticipating the same, the Meghalaya Congress has appointed a 41-year-old MBA from IIM-Calcutta as the president of the East Shillong Block Congress Committee under which Lyngdoh’s constituency falls. A senior NPP leader, who did wish to be named, said the defections reflect the “popularity of the party”. “The fact that all five MLAs of a big national party like the Congress have extended support unconditionally, is a stamp of approval on our policies and interventions,” he said. Observers say the development gives the NPP room for “manoeuvre in both Meghalaya and Manipur”. Says author and political commentator Samrat Choudhury, said: “It puts the NPP in a position to negotiate, without being dependent on the BJP." For the Congress, all of whose 21 MLAs have left between 2018 and now, it only means more bad news in a region that it once controlled and where it is now in free fall. Patricia Mukhim, editor of Shillong Times, said it was because the MLAs see the “futility of staying in a party that does not seem to believe in rejuvenating itself”. “Everyone likes a winner. it's cold in the Opposition,” she said, adding: “The NPP is gaining big and is sure to return with bigger numbers.” MLA Lyngdoh had earlier told The Indian Express that the Congress leadership was in a “deep slumber”. “Despite the political crisis in November, no one from the central leadership came forward to speak to us, guide us, or even tell us the way forward. The five of us had no choice but to make this decision so that our constituencies get the attention they deserve,” she had said. Outsmarted by the NPP in the game of numbers, the TMC's Mukul Sangma said Congress MLAs switching sides showed that “unscrupulous and power hungry people have officially joined hands”. However, the job has just become even more uphill for the TMC, a new party plus one carrying the tag of being a 'Bengali' party. In Meghalaya, where local tribals have often sparred with the Bengali community, that is one big strike against the TMC already.
