Meghalaya TMC leader Mukul Sangma called to Kolkata over MLAs' defection rumour

KOLKATA: As rumours float that five All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MLAs in Meghalaya may join the United Democratic Party (UDP), the former's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has summoned Meghalaya party president Charles Pyngrope and TMC's legislative party leader in the Meghalaya Assembly, Mukul Sangma to Kolkata.

The rumours about the five TMC MLAs in Meghalaya have come as a major embarrassment for the party, especially after Abhishek Banerjee had claimed at a public meeting in Guwahati on Wednesday that his party will form the Government in Meghalaya within a year.

The five MLAs rumoured to be quitting the TMC include Shitlang Pale, Jimmy D Sangma, Himalaya Shangpliang, Marthon Sangma and George B Lyngdoh.

Confirming this political development, a senior AITC leader said on the condition of anonymity although the date of the emergency meeting in Kolkata is yet to be finalized, it will be held in May.

In November 2021, former Meghalaya Chief Minister and the Opposition leader in the State Assembly, Mukul Sangma and 11 others among the 17 Congress legislators in Meghalaya had joined the TMC.

As a result, the AITC became the principal Opposition party in the Northeastern State.

However, even before six months have passed since then, the alleged reports of five TMC MLAs quitting the party have upset the party leadership, an AITC source said.

"In fact, before his Guwahati visit on May 11, our national general secretary was supposed to visit Meghalaya on May 3. However, at that point of time, the party leadership received reports that a number of party functionaries in Meghalaya have become defunct. A party diktat was sent to the Meghalaya leadership to set things in order before the national general secretary's next scheduled visit there," the Trinamool source said.

Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura are in focus for the AITC leadership to spread the party's organizational network in the North-East.

However, if the dissent in Meghalaya grows, the AITC's expansion plan in Northeastern India will receive a major setback and, therefore, the party's top leadership is desperate to avoid it. (IANS)

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