By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 27: The ruling National People’s Party seems confident that the Congress will not be able to raise its head in future and pose any kind of threat to the former.
NPP senior leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar on Monday predicted that the grand old party, which once ruled Meghalaya and is now left with just one MP and zero Assembly representation, will not be able to make a comeback and that its days were numbered.
Looking at the current situation, it seems difficult for the grand old party to rise again, he said.
Dhar admitted that it would not be wise on his part to judge another party, but made it clear that the Congress leaders must decide their future course.
According to him, the decline of the Congress could be because people have lost faith in the party or perhaps grown tired of its leadership.
The NPP currently enjoys absolute majority on its own in the Assembly with 33 MLAs.
Although the party won 26 seats in the 2023 assembly polls, the merger of two MLAs from the PDF in May 2023 (Gavin Miguel Mylliem and Banteidor Lyngdoh) and four from the Congress earlier this year (Ronnie V. Lyngdoh, Celestine Lyngdoh, Gabriel Wahlang and Charles Marngar) took the NPP’s tally to 32. In the Gambegre bye-election held in 2024, Mehtab Chandee A. Sangma won the seat to take the NPP tally to 33 in the House of 60.
On the other hand, the Congress, which had won 5 seats in the 2023 assembly elections, is now reduced to zero with the election of Saleng A. Sangma to the Lok Sabha and the merger of the remaining four MLAs with the NPP.
At the same time, the Congress is also facing an internal tussle with the All India Congress Committee reportedly making a move to remove Vincent H. Pala from the party president’s post. Pala has, however, made it clear that he will not step down under pressure from external forces or political opponents attempting to destabilise the Congress in Meghalaya.
