CM says Opposition in M’laya divided, predicts split in Trinamool Congress

GUWAHATI, Nov 20: In a significant statement made ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, Chief Minister and NPP national president Conrad K Sangma has predicted a split in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), saying that “many MLAs will soon be joining NPP and other political parties” in the state.
“Congress, which was the major Opposition for the government in Meghalaya, has broken into half …with half of the party MLAs joining TMC. Now many TMC MLAs in the state are going to join NPP and other political parties…that will happen soon…..So TMC is going to further break…I don’t know if that is a sign of them getting stronger or weaker…That I leave to the people to decide,” Sangma told media persons on the sidelines of a programme here on Sunday.
Claiming that the Opposition in Meghalaya is ‘divided’ as of now, the chief minister said the trust and the confidence of the people “is not there in the absence of a united Opposition…there are doubts in the minds of the people.”
“If you see the current political scenario in the Northeast, and in Meghalaya in particular, TMC is a party which has just come in, though there were some instances in the past that they had come in and that they were there…But they could not sustain and build the organisation. Hence even today in this particular election, the party is not acceptable (to the people) though they think they are,” the chief minister said.
“Hence given the fact that the Opposition is broken up, given the fact that TMC is new as a party in the Northeast and will take time to find acceptability here, it will be wrong for them to conclude that they will form the government. I think they should accept the reality…they should see where they stand, if they want to improve as a party in the region,” he said.
“The fact that the TMC is already building castles in the air shows that the party does not know the reality and they are not being able to build the organisation the way they would want…and so I don’t think that the statements being made by them have any strong hold,” Sangma said.
“But nonetheless, as a political leader, as the NPP president and as the chief minister of Meghalaya, I have always maintained that I don’t take any opponent lightly, I have always believed that when we fight an election we should always give our best and never underestimate anyone,” he said.