SHILLONG, Dec 15: The NPP is facing heavy fire from former MLAs of the party who have defected to other parties over apprehension that they will be denied party tickets to contest the upcoming Assembly polls.
First it was Phulbari MLA SG Esmatur Mominin who accused the party of betraying him, and now two more former NPP MLAs from Garo Hills – Ferlin CA Sangma and Benedic R Marak – have predicted that the party would regret its decision of not allotting them tickets and sidelining them.
Both Ferlin and Benedic joined the BJP on Wednesday and are preparing to contest the polls from the saffron party.
Ferlin on Thursday said they were bound to leave the party and everyone as aware that they are being sidelined and even in their constituencies, they had no say at all.
“We were driven out and we have accepted it gracefully and have decided to move on,” she said while adding that it was a pre-determined decision by the party against them.
She said the party president had already asserted that they are fielding someone else in their constituencies and since there was no room for them in their “brother’s house”, they had to look for a room in their “father’s house”. Benedict recalled that he was the CEM of GHADC for eight months but Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma sidelined him.
“I joined NPP long time back because of his father and seeing the work of his father,” he said while pointing out that the CM was singing the “wind of change” earlier but in reality it is a “wind of disaster”.
“Let the CM explain why I was removed,” he said while downplaying the survey of the NPP that his prospect of winning the election was not good.
“I am coming back and the NPP is going to regret its decision,” he asserted, while adding that there is nepotism in the NPP.
Independent legislator Samuel Sangma said that it was his wish to join the BJP and contest from the saffron party.
Former TMC leader Himalaya M Shangpliang, who also joined the BJP, justified his move saying the party wants to build good roads, good hospitals, schools etc.
Shangpliang had quit the Congress in November last year along with 11 other MLAs and joined TMC. But his stint in the party lasted exactly a year.
Shangpliang said that the TMC is not acceptable to people in the constituency and hence his people suggested that he should join the BJP since people in the rural area understand how much help Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended to the rural population during the COVID- 19 crisis.
