MEGHALAYA:
The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly could see a depleted opposition with reports suggesting the possible merger of Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming weeks.
In such an event, the opposition bench strength would reduce to 9 or 10 legislators.
The opposition comprises five TMC legislators, five Congress legislators, and four Voice of the People Party (VPP) legislators. If the four or five TMC legislators do join the ruling dispensation, Congress would be the largest party in the opposition.
Cabinet minister and BJP leader AL Hek admitted that unofficial talks were held between BJP and four out of five legislators of TMC in an individual capacity, but not as a party.
“We spoke with Charles, his friend and like that,” Hek, who is currently in Pune, told this scribe over the phone.
Meanwhile, when contacted, TMC state president Charles Pyngrope denied such reports, and said, “There was no agreement with me that the TMC party – the four or five [legislators] will join BJP. There were no such talks.”
Pyngrope added, “It depends on them [the legislators]; if they want to go, we can’t stop them. The decision of the party, even if there was such a move, was done without the knowledge of the president. We didn’t discuss this in the meeting. If the four decide, then it’s their decision, not the party’s.”
Similarly, TMC state vice-president and former Umroi legislator George Lyngdoh maintained that, while these fresh rumours have been doing the rounds, there has been no discussion as of yet within the party and no leader has expressed any intention to join any other party.
“These are rumours; we can’t stop – maybe once we have a discussion, we will know, but since I am no longer part of the parliamentary party, we have to discuss with the MLAs,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources in TMC have revealed that Songsak legislator and former chief minister Mukul Sangma had earlier approached a few BJP leaders with the intention of joining the saffron party along with other legislators.
The Meghalayan tried to contact Mukul Sangma for his reaction but to no avail.
It may be reminded that, before the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, in one of his election campaigns, had predicted that a few TMC leaders were already in talks with other parties and that they would leave the party soon after winning elections, a claim which the TMC leadership at the time had hotly denied.