TURA:
As the campaigning fever rises by the day ahead of the February 27th elections, wannabe candidates and disgruntled leaders are switching coats at the drop of a hat, as one party’s misery is another’s beneficiary.
Irked at being overlooked by the party high command for the Mahendraganj constituency, former BJP MDC Bhupendra Hajong has crossed over to the Trinamool Congress with his supporters which has given a massive boost to sitting TMC candidate and legislator Dikkanchi D Shira, wife of former chief minister Mukul Sangma.
The BJP denied Hajong the party ticket and allotted it to Tura candidate and party leader Bernard Marak’s younger brother Tinku Marak in Mahendraganj.
The move by the BJP leader with his supporters to TMC, in a constituency like Mahendraganj that has a large Hajong voter base, would be seen as a setback to the saffron party and a positive vibe for the TMC.
But the Trinamool Congress also has worry on its side with one of its leaders and sitting MDC in the GHADC, Dhormonath Sangma, shifting camp to the NPP over the denial of the party ticket.
Dhormonath Sangma had sought the party ticket from Tikrikilla but with Mukul Sangma deciding to contest from two constituencies, Songsak and Tikrikilla, it went to the former chief minister.
Dhormonath’s entry into the NPP will give some added advantage to a sitting legislator and NPP candidate Jimmy D Sangma as he prepares to face Mukul Sangma at the electoral battle.