It took the resignation of a fairly young member of the BJP in Meghalaya, who because of his profile as former MLA and bureaucrat has been defined as a top party leader, for charges of nepotism to be levelled against the present State President Ernest Mawrie. HM Shangpliang who joined the BJP just before the 2023 election, contested from the Party and lost by a margin of 955 votes to his rival Olan Singh Suin of the United Democratic Party (UDP). Shangpliang, a former bureaucrat first joined the Congress Party after superannuating, contested and won the Mawsynram seat in 2018. He was one of 12 Congress MLAs who left the Congress in November 2021 to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Within a year in December 2022, Shangpliang had joined the BJP and is now set to join the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) on September 13. Shangpliang is therefore a rolling stone and the attention he is getting now at leaving the BJP is because the Party is ruling the country today and any upset it suffers in any state tends to make news. The people of Meghalaya are too used to these political gimmicks to take notice. Here people changing parties is no big deal. It is cold in the opposition benches but even those benches are out of bounds for Shangpliang as he lost the elections. His complaint was that the State BJP President left him to ‘sit out’ without any assignment. In his 5-year term as MLA of Mawsynram not much is seen by way of development. The road beyond Mawphlang through Tyrsad onwards up until Mawsynram is a nightmare for those who have to traverse it on a daily basis. While it is being presently repaired it has remained in a pathetic condition for all of 5 years and is quite a contrast to roads in Mairang etc., which are well maintained.
The BJP in Meghalaya has been trapped in the strangle-hold of Mawrie who has not shown any leadership qualities but has, as alleged by Shangpliang, tried to promote himself at the cost of his colleagues. Much was said about Mawrie being removed and replaced by a more capable leader much before elections 2023. BJP in charge Meghalaya, Dr M Chuba Ao who is also one of the Vice Presidents of the BJP had been visiting Meghalaya several times in 2022 when the local karyakartas here complained to him about Mawrie’s inability to enthuse them or to provide the kind of leadership that is needed if the BJP is to make headway in Meghalaya. But that did not seem to move the BJP bigwigs in Delhi. It remains to be seen how the “High Command” of the BJP reacts to Shangpliang’s desertion.
