SHILLONG, Feb 19: State NPP president and Rajya Sabha member, WR Kharlukhi on Saturday said the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has started to “sink like the Titanic”.
While the ill-fated ship sunk midway after striking an iceberg, the AITC vessel is breaking apart without setting sail in the state, he said.
“The AITC has started going down like the Titanic even before it could set sail,” Kharlukhi said.
Stating that the AITC should keep its flock together, he said, “They should realise that they have come through the backdoor and should now try to protect themselves.”
Kharlukhi trashed the AITC’s opinion that the NPP would devour its coalition partners, one of which is the Bharatiya Janata Party. “They should take care of their flock first,” he added.
He cited one of AITC’s members of district council who joined the NPP recently to drive home his point.
“The MDC from Garo Hills, the stronghold of the leader of the Opposition (Mukul M. Sangma), says he sees no future in the AITC,” he said.
“Do not blame others if you cannot take care of your flock. You are yet to prove yourselves in an election. We will see whether AITC is a force to reckon with in Meghalaya in 2023,” Kharlukhi said.
On the allegations of NPP poaching the MLAs of AITC, he said: “What about AITC having taken 12 Congress MLAs? So, who is poaching whom?”
He said only time will tell if some AITC leaders would be joining the NPP.
AITC leader and the Opposition chief whip, George V. Lyngdoh had on Friday advised the allies of NPP if they don’t want to get devoured by it.
He cautioned that the NPP was trying not only to create cracks in the AITC but also trying to move as a political powerhouse to eat up all the coalition partners. He advised them to read the political signs.