From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: In the check and mate game of Meghalaya politics, former minister M M Danggo, who resigned from Congress and joined NPP, is likely to be made chief whip of the ruling MDA coalition in place of Agatha Sangma, who is vacating her seat for her brother, chief minister Conrad Sangma.
Danggo, who remained a dissident in Congress most of the time when he was not a minister, could have got a Cabinet berth had there been a vacancy for the same.
“Since there is no vacancy in the ministry, not even from NPP quota, the veteran leader who has joined the coalition at a critical time would be made chief whip,” sources said.
Danggo will also get the status of a Cabinet minister, sources said.
He will also be helped in all ways to retain his Ranikor Assembly seat.
Considering his previous wins from the same constituency when many of his counterparts in Congress bit the dust in Khasi-Jaintia Hills, Danggo is likely to make it to the Assembly again.
The sulking Congress, which got some mileage after the Ampati victory, is also not in a position to divide the ruling coalition and get back Ranikor. This would have not only helped the party regain its single largest tag but also given a huge boost, sources said.
The party is also unlikely to win the Tura Assembly seat where Conrad Sangma will contest since it is a NPP stronghold.
Danggo and his supporters are also banking heavily on their voters with demands such as making Ranikor a civil subdivision, setting up a community college and creating two more community and rural development blocks at Khonjoy and Wahkaji.
Ironically, the local leaders were pursuing the issues with both DD Lapang and Mukul Sangma since 2007, but in vain.
On the other hand they have got a positive response from Conrad which triggered the former minister’s resignation from the party and the Assembly.
But irrespective of the outcome in Ranikor, this cat and mouse game is likely to continue in the Tura Assembly bypoll, and thereafter, in the Tura Lok Sabha elections, sources said.