Meghalaya: Sangma slams Congress for failing as Opposition

Former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, who has happened to be leading the turncoat lawmakers, said the decision to shift allegiance to Mamata Banerjee's party was taken after exhaustive due diligence and analysis about how best to serve the people.

Shillong:Congress has failed in its role of the main Opposition in the country, blamed former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma who defected to TMC along with 11 legislators on Thursday said.

"A complete sense of commitment towards serving the people has brought us to take this decision. In 2018 Assembly elections, we were confident of forming govt but we could not. Again, post-poll there were activities to poach our members," said Sangma, while addressing a press conference on Thursday.

"We have taken a decision to march with the Trinamool Congress as the whole country needs a strong pan Indian political alternative," he added.

The decision to shift allegiance to Mamata Banerjee's party was taken after exhaustive due diligence and analysis about how best to serve the people, the former Congress MLA who led the turncoats asserted.

Congress had 17 MLAs in the 60 member House until Wednesday night when 12 lawmakers including Sangma joined TMC, and the defection altered the number of Congress lawmakers in the House to 2. All the 12 legislators had already informed the Speaker of Meghalaya Legislative assembly Metbah Lyngdoh on joining TMC.

The defection will not attract the anti-defection law, which allows merger by two-thirds. The development will be a body blow to the Congress ahead of the 2023 assembly elections in the northeastern state.

Though the composition of the House is altered, it will have no bearing on the NPP led government's majority in Meghalaya as of now. In Meghalaya Assembly, the NPP has 21 MLAs, it also enjoys the support of two BJP MLAs, eight MLAs of United Democratic Party (UDP), four MLAs of Peoples' Democratic Front (PDF) and one MLA of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement.

The Congress which emerged as the single largest party with 21 seats in 2018 could not form the government while the NPP led by Conrad Sangma which won 19 seats was able to form the government with its allies mostly from regional parties which rallied on an anti-Congress plank.