Shorn of all hyperbole and virtuosity, politics is nothing but the struggle for power. That power is increasingly being used, not to bring about any change in the lives of people but to feather personal nests while ensuring that a semblance of development also happens. It is a trial by fire for any political party to remain outside the power circuit for too long. The Congress has been out of circulation in the power corridors of Meghalaya for the last five years. In between 12 Congress MLAs left the Party and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC). One among those joined the BJP and contested the elections from the Party. It is ultimately the quest for power that fires peoples’ ambitions to be in politics. It is ironic that while different parties profess different ideologies and interests and tear at each other during the elections, they have no qualms of changing uniforms once the elections are over and sometimes even before elections begin.
The nature of politics is such that MLAs belonging to the Opposition parties are starved of development funds although that should not be the case. It is also true that a Constituency that elects a Chief Minister is the largest beneficiary. It happened when Dr Mukul Sangma was Chief Minister and representing Ampati. Most development funds went to service that Constituency much to the chagrin of other MLAs. It is the same now with South Tura which has got a huge facelift. At the end of the day, ideology and all the virtues associated with that ideology have limited appeal once elections are over and people begin to demand the fruits of development. It is for this reason that in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh there have been occasions when the entire Opposition has switched over to the ruling side. They actually know which side of the bread is buttered.
Hence the speculations that the TMC MLAs might eventually merge with the BJP may not be entirely wrong. Mukul Sangma is a factor to reckon with in the Garo Hills and if he and his team were to join the BJP, it might benefit the saffron party and raise its stature in a State where it has been struggling for a toehold for a very long time. Again the assumptions that NPP Chief Conrad Sangma would petition the NEDA Chief, Himanta Biswa Sarma to short-circuit Mukul Sangma’s plans might ultimately not work. The BJP would look at the larger interests of the Party and if Mukul Sangma can take it a few notches higher especially in the Garo Hills, the national leadership would not brook dissent to the game-plan. For now it’s a wait and watch game.