No pre-poll pact with AITC: Pala

SHILLONG, July 1: The All India Trinamool Congress and the All India Congress Committee seem to be on the same page as far as putting up a united front to steamroll the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 general elections. With this agenda on mind the opposition parties have projected Yashwant Sinha as their presidential nominee against the National Democratic Alliance candidate Draupadi Murmu.
However, these developments are unlikely to have a significant bearing on Meghalaya politics, if state Congress chief Vincent H Pala’s statement is anything to go by.
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president has categorically ruled out any pre-poll alliance with any political party, including AITC, ahead of the 2023 assembly polls.
To a query on whether there was any possibility of a pre-poll pact with the AITC, Pala said, “Never.”
“If we lose, we will lose on our own and if we win, we will win on our own,” Pala added.
Pala was critical of AITC leader Abhishek Banerjee for his name-calling of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. “In Meghalaya, political leaders criticise each other but they never go personal,” he said.
He recalled that leaders of various political parties have no problem meeting each other which is not the case in other states. “This is the difference between Meghalaya and other states,” he said.