TURA: The National People’s Party (NPP) has broken the Congress grip in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) and taken over the executive committee after majority of the MDCs walked away from the Boston Marak-led Executive Committee (EC) to join hands with the opposition NPP ranks.
The NPP’s Dipul R Marak, sitting MDC from Rochonpara constituency in West Garo Hills, has been elected unopposed as the new Chief Executive member (CEM) in an election that was heavily tilted to one side with the Congress failing to even put up a candidate for the contest on Monday afternoon.
In a house of 29 elected MDCs, Dipul Marak commanded the support of 20 members while Boston was left in the lurch with just eight supporting MDCs.
Dipul was the lone candidate to file his nomination for the CEM post in a special session of the GHADC that witnessed the near full strength of the NPP alliance while the Congress benches were literally empty with even outgoing CEM Boston Marak being conspicuous by his absence.
From the Congress fold, only Wenison Ch Marak of the GNC attended the morning session of the GHADC while Ismail Marak made his entry when the House met in the afternoon only to make a quick disappearance before Deputy Chairman of GHADC, Mettrinson G Momin, announced the victory of Dipul Marak.
With the new political dispensation in place in the GHADC, the position of the current Chairperson and Congress MDC from Dengnakpara, Mrs Sadhiarani Sangma, has become uncertain.
The NPP is expected to make a move for the Chairman’s position that had previously been held by Boston Marak who stepped down to take over as CEM after his brief successful coup.
The writing was clearly on the wall for the rebel NPP leader who, eleven months ago, had engineered the collapse of the then NPP-led Executive Committee headed by Denang T Sangma. Boston had switched over to the Congress fold with a handful of MDCs from the ruling benches and was rewarded with the CEM position.
The opposition NPP, which had been baying for revenge against their former colleague, soon got their opportunity. Boston’s luck apparently ran out on March 3rd, the day results to the state elections were announced, when the Congress was edged out by the NPP which cobbled up a coalition to run the new government in the state.
The aftershocks of the state election results resonated all the way to the GHADC.
What started off as a trickle soon became a surge with MDCs from the Congress fold deserting Boston in droves. By the time he tendered his resignation to Governor Ganga Prasad, on Saturday, he was down to single digits.