TMC natl secy to chalk out poll plan during his visit to state

From CK Nayak

NEW DELHI, April 16: In a bid to firm up his party’s position in the upcoming Assembly elections, TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee will be on a two-day visit to Meghalaya from May 3 to chart a poll strategy for the Meghalaya unit of All India Trinamool Congress.
Banerjee is likely to meet Mukul Sangma, who is leading the opposition AITC in Meghalaya, in the process of bolstering the electoral strategy for the polls in 2023.
According to party sources, ahead of Banerjee, TMC Meghalaya in-charge, Sabyasachi Dutta, will visit Meghalaya and hold meetings with the party members. TMC sources also confirmed that apart from Meghalaya, the party also has its eyes on Assam, which will also go for polls next year.
TMC emerged as the main opposition party with former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma leading it from the front with top party leaders from both Khasi-Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills.
It will be interesting to see how TMC in Meghalaya will join hands with Congress, the two being each other’s stark opponents in the state. It may also be recalled that Mukul Sangma was deserted the Congress lock, stock and barrel, primarily because Vincent H Pala was made Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president without Sangma in the loop of consultations.
Meghalaya has a peculiar position where Congress is more opposed to TMC than to NPP, which is an NDA partner. On the other hand, Sangma opposes both NPP and Congress in equal terms.
In the broader plane, the combined opposition parties, with an unexpected win in the just declared bypolls, have for the first time come together to oust the ruling NDA governments in the coming elections to the state assemblies including in Meghalaya.
After winning back Bengal for the third straight time, TMC is now eyeing to plant a firm foot in several other states with it already contesting the civic polls in Agartala, Tripura, where it stood in the second position. It gave a tough fight to ruling BJP, and moreover, many of the former BJP leaders have also joined the party in the aftermath.