SHILLONG: Some of the sitting legislators are waiting for that six months’ period from the time of the expiry of the present House to switch over to political parties other than the Congress to face Assembly elections in 2018.
Sources said on Sunday that while some may join political parties other than Congress, others may prefer to be independents to contest the Assembly polls.
According to sources, the target of the sitting legislators is to quit their respective parties six months before the polls due in February-March.
The fear of the legislators, who want to quit their parties, is that if they resign as MLAs now, by-elections will be declared to fill up the posts within six months.
Recently, BJP state president Shibun Lyngdoh said at least 20 sitting MLAs are in touch with the party to join its fold, which will be examined in due course of time.
According to party insiders, the matter is likely to be discussed during the visit of the party national president, Amit Shah, to Shillong in August.
Besides, there were already media reports that the Peoples’ Democratic Front (PDF) is the brainchild of suspended Congress member and KHADC chief executive member P.N Syiem, who will take a decision to join the party sometime in July.
Sources added that some sitting legislators are eyeing NPP as they consider that with anti-incumbency, the ruling Congress will be affected and the non-Congress political parties like NPP will have an advantage.
A few independent legislators are also keen to join NCP and they had already held a few meetings with the NCP central leaders with the knowledge of the State leadership.
Sources added that a section of Congress legislators are toying with the idea of contesting as Independents as they can join any group in the post-poll scenario once elected to the Assembly.
