SHILLONG, Jan 16: The state president of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Charles Pyngrope on Sunday said the question of the party’s acceptability in the state does not arise.
He said the regional parties have been in the state for 50 years but their representation in the Assembly has been always in single digit.
He asked about the acceptability of Hill State People’s Democratic Party, People’s Democratic Front and United Democratic Party citing that they have two, four and eight MLAs respectively.
These regional forces are hoping to gain from the defection of the 12 Congress MLAs to the AITC in the 2023 Assembly elections.
But Pyngrope said, “Look at the list of the (regional) parties in the Assembly in the last two terms. Everybody has MLAs in single digit. The NPP (National People’s Party) in 2013 had only two MLAs and it says the AITC is unacceptable. We are at least starting with 12.”
He continued in the same vein: “It is normal politics that they will say (they will gain from AITC’s entry) but we do not want to go on narratives. We want to go on the bare reality and we have a better chance than anyone else,” Pyngrope asserted.
He said the process to constitute the AITC’s state unit has started.
“We are moving around in Garo hills and are sure that things will happen. We have specially asked for a full fledged unit. We need to bring individuals from all walks of life and for that, we should not rush. We need inputs from people who can guide us,” he said.
After the AITC’s dramatic entry into the state through a “political coup”, people have started joining it in Garo Hills. However, the process of enrollment in Khasi and Jaintia Hills is yet to begin.