Congress reconstitutes NE coordination panel

NEW DELHI, Aug 6: More than eight months after former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma quit the Congress along with 11 other party MLAs to wear Trinamool Congress colours, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Saturday reconstituted the virtually-defunct North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) by appointing former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki as its chairman.
The AICC had appointed Dr Sangma as the head of the committee last November with a hope to revive the party in the Northeast. The move was then dubbed as a counter to the BJP’s North East Democratic Alliance of which Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is the convenor.
Assam Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi has been appointed as the convener of the NECCC, the AICC said. It, however, did not elaborate on the other office bearers or members of the committee. Tuki served as a member in the earlier committee.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed the duo to the committee, the AICC said.
The NECCC was once a very powerful body. It used to be led by party veterans like Dr DD Lapang, SC Jamir and Gegong Apang – all long-serving former Chief Ministers. The Congress those days ruled almost all states in the Northeast until it started fizzling out in the wake of the BJP’s emergence as a powerhouse.