SHILLONG, Nov 14: Eye on the 2023 Assembly elections in Meghalaya, poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s team members are camping in Shillong, conducting a research as a part of a strategy to understand the dynamics of the state’s politics.
“They want to understand the politics here and are carrying out a research and getting inputs. Many of them are camped in the city,” a source said.
After the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) resounding victory over the BJP in this year’s West Bengal elections, Kishor had renewed his contract with the party till the 2024 Parliamentary polls.
The source also said that TMC means business and Kishor’s team members are trying to meet political leaders and some citizens.
Although the TMC has not yet officially confirmed if it will contest the 2023 Meghalaya polls but there are clear indications that the party has already started its groundwork.
The development comes close on the heels of reports about Congress stalwart Mukul Sangma meeting TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata and resultant speculations that he will defect to the party along with a group of Congress MLAs loyal to him.
Although Sangma in due course rubbished the reports as speculations and stated the Congress is working hard to set its house in order, sources said his differences with the party leaders have only increased since.
The sources added that the Sangma camp is trying to persuade the Congress MLAs to join it but got very little success so far.
In 2012, the Meghalaya Pradesh Trinamool Congress (MPTC) was formally launched with an intention to contest from 35 of the state’s 60 seats. The then MPTC convener was Ashahel D Shira who had unsuccessfully contested the recent by-elections to the Rajabala seat on the United Democratic Party’s ticket.