SHILLONG, Jan 30: After finding himself increasingly being cornered within the party and discovering that some leaders are conspiring against him, NPP’s Ranikor candidate and former Assembly Speaker Martin M Danggo has decided to ditch the party and join the BJP.
Events that preceded this move include the circulation of an SMS against him and his alleged ill-treatment by some NPP leaders.
The SMS, shared allegedly by an NPP leader asking people to ensure the victory of UDP’s Ranikor MLA, Pius Marwein in the February 27 Assembly elections enraged Danggo’s supporters so much that they asked him to quit the party.
Pelcy Snaitang, a close aide of Danggo and the chief of the NPP’s women’s wing, claimed NPP’s state youth wing president Kitbok Nongrem had shared the SMS. Through it, people were also asked to ensure the victory of former Mawkyrwat legislator Renikton L Tongkhar.
Snaitang wondered how Danggo will win if the NPP leaders themselves are conspiring and working against him. She expressed dissatisfaction that Danggo is being sidelined.
“We tried to seek an audience with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to discuss the problems of our leaders but the NPP state leadership declined our request by saying that this is not the time to meet the CM since everyone is busy with the elections,” Snaitang said.
She said everybody is angry over how Danggo is being treated.
“Everyone resolved that the former Assembly Speaker should contest from the BJP. We have made our stand clear to Danggo that he will have to contest from the BJP,” Snaitang said.
Sources claimed Marwein had secret meetings with NPP’s Mawshynrut MLA, Gigur Myrthong. The sources said the people in the constituency are aware of the meetings. The two of them will support each other due to common business interests, the sources further claimed.
According to the sources, Myrthong, who is the NPP leader in-charge of South West Khasi Hills, had tried to reach out to the leaders close to Danggo after learning about his move to shift his political allegiance to the BJP but it was too late as his supporters have already made up their mind to join the BJP.
The sources said the leaders loyal to Danggo had met BJP MLA, Alexander Laloo Hek on Friday with a request to fix a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Hek immediately fixed an appointment with the Assam CM the next day.
The sources said some of the leaders and Danggo met the Assam CM in the presence of Hek. After that meeting, a meeting of all the leaders was convened on Monday (January 30) at the Shillong Club, the sources said.
Danggo is likely to join the BJP during a public rally at Ranikor on Saturday. He is expected to resign from the NPP on Wednesday. Earlier, he had stated that he is yet to receive any communication from his leaders.
“I will decide after receiving a communication from my leaders,” he had said.
Meanwhile, over 600 members of the NPP’s Ranikor unit resigned from the party and joined the BJP on Monday. BJP state vice president Dipayan Chakraborty termed the mass resignation as a great move. He said Danggo is expected to join the party “within the next few days”.
The developments will embarrass the NPP as Danggo has been already named as the party’s Ranikor candidate.
Chakraborty said Danggo is joining the BJP as everyone has realized the NPP has failed to live up to people’s expectations.
“When Conrad Sangma became the CM, he was expected to deliver but he failed miserably. The NPP will be out of power in a few days,” the BJP leader predicted.
Danggo was elected in the 2018 elections as a Congress candidate. Later, he resigned and sought fresh mandate as an NPP candidate but lost the by-elections.
