SHILLONG, April 20: All India Trinamool Congress state president, Charles Pyngrope on Wednesday said the I-PAC team of Prashant Kishor cannot work for two parties in the state.
He was reacting to reports that Congress interim president, Sonia Gandhi is keen on roping in I-PAC to do the groundwork for the party workers in Meghalaya and other states going to polls in less than a year.
“The IPAC-team has already done its work for the AITC in Meghalaya. I don’t think they would be doing the same job for Congress in the state,” Pyngrope told The Shillong Times.
Kishor, too, understands he will not be able to bring a change only by working with Congress or AITC.
“It is for this reason he is ready to work with other political parties. He (Kishor) knows that unity is strength,” he said, adding that the AITC is open to the idea of an understanding with Congress for the Assembly polls.
“We can explore the option of a pre-poll alliance with Congress in the state. But a final decision in this regard would have to be taken by the party high command of both AITC and Congress,” he said.
Seat-sharing could be a possibility if the two parties decided on a pre-poll alliance, he added.
Pyngrope said Gandhi has made the right move of reaching out to the political parties opposed to the ideologies of the BJP. “All like-minded parties need to come together to cobble up the number of MPs in Parliament. Congress and the regional parties can figure out how to be able to form the government in Delhi in 2024,” he said.
NPP dared to name
likely AITC defectors
Pyngrope debunked the claim of senior NPP leader, Sniawbhalang Dhar that four Trinamool MLAs were ready to quit the party and contest the upcoming Assembly election as NPP candidates. Asserting that all the 12 party MLAs are steadfast, he dared Dhar to disclose the names of the four MLAs.
“Why give us just numbers? Tell us the names of the MLAs so that we know who is planning to leave the party,” Pyngrope said, adding that political parties often make such tall claims.
A section of the media had reported the NPP leader as claiming that 11 sitting legislators including four from the AITC are likely to join the NPP ahead of next year’s elections.
Dhar had also expressed doubt about the 12 AITC legislators contesting from their new party.