Shillong: Meghalaya Congress president Vincent H Pala claimed that his party decided against joining hands with the TMC in the state as its leader Mukul Sangma will join the BJP after the Lok Sabha polls.
Eleven Congress MLAs led by Sangma joined the TMC in 2022, following which it became the main opposition party in the state overnight. The West Bengal-based party won only five seats in the 2023 assembly elections.
"Our team went and met Dr Mukul, and invited him to come back (to the Congress). I told Mukul, you come back to the Congress or you be in the TMC, we will work together, but rather he himself is trying to persuade Congress workers to join the BJP," Pala, the MP of Shillong, told reporters here on Thursday.
"TMC leader Mukul is calling Congress workers to join BJP. Many of our (Congress) workers received calls. For example, in Ri Bhoi, they have already started telling our people to join the BJP. In Shillong West and other places also, the TMC leaders are trying to call our leaders and ask them to join the BJP," he said.
Pala claimed that Sangma will 'definitely' join the BJP after the Lok Sabha elections. "This is the reason why the Congress refused to have an alliance with the TMC in Meghalaya," he said, adding that the party did its proper homework before taking the decision.
"...we know the TMC leaders are in talks with the BJP. It is written on the walls that after the elections, many of the TMC leaders will join the BJP. Accordingly, I briefed the high command, and they agreed with me, so we didn't have an alliance here," he said. Pala alleged that the TMC in the state was working as the "B-team" of the BJP.
"Why should we sacrifice? Today, we will tell our people to vote for the TMC, tomorrow if they go to the BJP, we will fall prey to that ideas of the BJP," he said. The Congress leader said that the TMC in West Bengal and its unit in Meghalaya are completely different.
He exuded confidence that the Congress would do better than the TMC in the Garo Hills in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. "Winning or losing, that is a next-level thing, but we will give a good fight and our party will revive in Meghalaya," he said.
"According to me, TMC will come last in Garo Hills this time. The way the TMC workers, cadres and leaders have joined the Congress in Garo Hills, it seems that TMC will not be able to get even at the level which BJP got in Garo Hills," he said.
Pala has been renominated by the Congress from Shillong, while Saleng A Sangma is the party nominee in the Tura seat. The TMC has fielded Mukul Sangma's brother Zenith Sangma in Tura. Mukul Sangma could not be reached for comments on Pala's claims and allegations. Other state TMC leaders also refused to comment on it.
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