From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: Two national parties in Meghalaya — the ruling Congress and the aspiring BJP — might claim the lion’s share in the February 27 Assembly elections but none of them will cross the half-way mark, according to the parties’ internal surveys.
The Congress, which seems to be reviving lately, might get 20 seats. It may even add 10 more to the count as an all-time record, the party’s survey shows.
At the same time, the party also apprehends shocking defeat in Songsak where Chief Minister Mukul Sangma is contesting.
The BJP’s assessment does not cross even the double-digit mark but it is trying to ride piggyback mainly on NPP, which has a strong foothold in Garo Hills. The saffron brigade is also in talks with regional parities since the Congress fever of desertion has hit it badly and that too in the crucial days.
The BJP is cent percent sure on its four sitting MLAs but the Christian and Muslim population in Sanbor Shullai’s constituency is giving the party a big headache.
The party is banking on NPP which, it feels, can get at least 15 seats mostly in Garo Hills but can also manage a few in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.
But here again once badly mauled Congress is recovering its field leaving the NPP behind since it was never a force in the region. Going by the Congress assessment, the party was to get three of the seven seats in Jaintia Hills and eight in Khasi Hills.
The party, which feels that it is recovering its lost ground in Garo Hills, is locked in a bitter fight with NPP in Garo Hills where it is expecting at least half of the two dozen seats.
The BJP survey gives a dozen seats to NPP mostly in Garo Hills and about 20 seats to itself and possible regional allies put together. The saffron party’s own tally does not cross double digit in view of the predominant Christian population in most parts of the state.