From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: The Congress might have boasted of going it alone in the coming Assembly polls in Meghalaya and has even gone to the extent of claiming to form the next government all by itself with an absolute majority, but at the same time the party is also ‘scared’ of a possible combination of regional parties led by none less than veteran politician Purno A Sangma which may upset its apple cart.
This is not a tall claim from any of the non-congress parties but by the Congress’s own internal assessment, party sources told The Shillong Times.
Interestingly, the fear of grouping of the regional parties dates back to the beginning of the current Assembly when the UDP, HSPDP and Independents aligned with Purno (then in NCP) and formed a Government by dethroning Congress even though it was the single largest party.
The fear is coming back to haunt the oldest party in the country despite being able to snatch back power in 2009 through imposition of Governor’s Rule and unsolved court cases.
What has added to the fear is that the regional parties voted against Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the last Presidential polls.
“The latest attempt by Purno to forge a pre-poll alliance of NPP with UDP and HSPDP would have to be viewed seriously,” an internal party assessment said.
“All precautions are needed to be taken to prevent any attempt of consolidation of anti-Congress votes during the forthcoming election,” it went on to add.
Interestingly, a section of the party also feels that the NCP leader will field his party candidates against the NPP ones which will cut into the opposition votes. But this in any case will be a pariah victory, observers feel.
Going by the present trend cobbling up even a rag tag coalition before the polls might not be that easy, observers feel.
The KHNAM has already declared that the party would not like to have any pre-poll alliance with any party.
The necessity to have a pre-poll alliance has arisen following the split in NCP with its legislators except two – Sanbor Shullai and Adolf Hitler Marak – merging with the newly formed National People’s Party (NPP).
Both NCP and NPP had approached various political parties expressing the need to have a pre-poll alliance.
The architect of NPP, PA Sangma had even personally met UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh and HSPDP supremo HS Lyngdoh to get their pulse on pre-poll arrangement.
None of the regional parties are yet to take a call on this issue.
The leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Conrad Sangma, who is representing NPP, had gone on record saying that the party was in a discussion mode on pre-poll alliance with many political parties.
“Things are moving in the right direction. We had discussion within the party and outside and also with other likeminded parties,” he added.
Observers say that post-poll alliance is a reality and not the pre-poll arrangement if one goes by the Hill State’s political history of the past few years since almost all the political parties in the State have different ideologies and stand.
Meghalaya’s convention is that before every Assembly elections, there are always talks about pre-poll alliances with like-minded parties, but when the election approaches they contest the elections separately. Even this prospect has unnerved a section of the Congress, the assessment said.
The State is going to polls in February-March next year.