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Journalism of Courage
As a beleaguered Congress fights to remain relevant in the 2023 Meghalaya Assembly elections, the party’s Lok Sabha MP from the state, Vincent Pala, has been left to do much of the heavy lifting. The Congress, which was the single largest party in the 2018 elections with 21 MLAs, is now left with no sitting legislator after a dramatic overnight exodus to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Among those who left was former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Mukul Sangma – leaving Pala to hold the fort almost all by himself.
Pala, a coal baron (his family owns a number of coal mines in Meghalaya), and one of the state’s wealthiest politicians, has held the Shillong Lok Sabha seat since 2009. This election, though, with the Congress’s weight in the state on his shoulders, the 55-year-old will fight the Assembly polls from the Sutnga-Saipung constituency in the state’s West Jaintia Hills district.
While Pala has had a swift rise, this might be his steepest challenge yet. A former PWD engineer and a businessman, he was the first parliamentarian from Meghalaya to become a Union minister of state, in his very first term. He was MoS, Water Resources Ministry, and later held the portfolio of Minority Affairs.
It was Pala’s appointment in August 2021 as the Congress state unit president that is believed to have precipitated the disintegration of the party. It was no secret in Meghalaya’s political circles that Pala’s appointment was not taken kindly by Mukul Sangma, who felt slighted given that he was the more senior leader.
Efforts to broker a truce, including by Rahul Gandhi, failed, and months later, in November 2021, Sangma left the Congress, 12 MLAs in tow.
Congress insiders, however, insist that Pala was only made the president because the high command had already got an inkling that Sangma was planning to jump ship.
A Congress leader in Meghalaya claims, “Pala has risen up to the occasion. He is an MP with 36 constituencies under him. His popularity extends beyond the Jaintia Hills where he comes from.”
In an interview to The Indian Express recently, Pala admitted that the Congress had faced “big setbacks”, but added that it was “an opportunity to start afresh with new and young faces”.
After the party last month declared its list of candidates – with first-timers in a majority – Pala tweeted: “Though we had a series of challenges politically, our workers never stopped working at the grassroots. That’s why we could declare 60/60 candidates. Thanks to all the supporters.”
