NEW DELHI: In a massive jolt to the opposition Congress in Meghalaya, 12 of its 17 MLAs led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma will join Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress on Thursday, said one of the defecting lawmakers H M Shangpliang.
"Twelve MLAs of the Congress out of 17 in Meghalaya have decided to join the TMC.
We will formally join the TMC under the leadership of former CM Mukul Sangma," Shangpliang, the MLA from Mawsynram in East Khasi Hills district told PTI late Wednesday night.
The Congress MLAs will join the TMC at an event at 1 PM, he said.
The breakaway group has submitted a list of MLAs crossing over to the TMC to state Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh and informed him about their decision, an official said in Shillong.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
The move came a day after three-term Congress MP from Bihar Kirti Azad, former JD(U) general secretary Pawan Varma and Haryana politician Ashok Tanwar joined her party.
The TMC is trying to enter Tripura's political arena in a big way by contesting a bitterly fought municipal election in the neighbouring state.
It will also contest the assembly elections in Goa with the intention of pitching Banerjee firmly as the foremost anti-BJP opposition voice.
A Trinamool Congress leader said in New Delhi on Wednesday night that 12 of the 18 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya, including Sangma, have joined the party.
Sangma, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, was reportedly unhappy with the Congress's top leadership.
Sources also said Sangma was peeved at the the appointment of Vincent H Pala without consulting him and the two did not get along well.
Banerjee, who is in the national capital, on being asked about her plans to call on Sonia Gandhi had said on Tuesday it is not mandatory to meet the Congress president every time she visits New Delhi.
The TMC leader, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said with 12 Congress MLAs joining his party, the Trinamool Congress has become the principal opposition party in the state.
"Twelve of the 18 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya join Trinamool. Principal Opposition In Meghalaya is now Trinamool. Another huge setback for Congress," he said.
Elections will be due in Meghalaya in 2023.
In 2012, the Meghalaya Pradesh Trinamool Congress was formally launched with an intention to contest 35 of the state's 60 seats.
As the anti-defection law permits merger of two third members of a legislature group with another party, the 12 Congress lawmakers will not attract disqualification.
A war of words broke out between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate a global business meet to be hosted by her government, with the grand old party claiming that the "understanding" between the two parties is now evident.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also alleged that the TMC and Banerjee are acting as agents of the saffron camp on a mission to destroy opposition unity and the Congress.
The TMC hit back saying it cannot be wrong to invite the prime minister to inaugurate a business meet and accused the Congress of failing to fight against the BJP and surrendering before it.
"Everybody knows that if there is any party which can fight against the BJP, it's the Congress. So they have assigned the job to weaken and finish the Congress to the TMC. They (TMC) are carrying out their (BJP's) orders. But no one can finish the Congress in India. The understanding between the TMC and the BJP is evident from the chief minister's invite to the prime minister. The TMC today stands exposed," Chowdhury told reporters.
Speaking to the media after meeting Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, Banerjee said she invited the prime minister to inaugurate the Bengal Global Business Summit which will be held in West Bengal in April next year.
"The way the TMC has been functioning for the last few months, it is quite clear that the TMC and Mamata Banerjee are acting as agents of the saffron camp. I had said earlier that she is the Trojan horse. Now everything is crystal clear. They have compromised with the BJP to protect themselves from CBI and ED investigations in various graft cases," Chowdhury said.
Echoing him, senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said the people of West Bengal have realised how "the TMC has duped" them by projecting it as the alternative to the BJP.
"During the assembly polls, the BJP and the TMC had projected themselves as an alternative to each other. Now it is clear that both the parties have a covert understanding," he said.
The TMC, however, dubbed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.
"What is wrong in the chief minister inviting the prime minister for the business summit? This is how the federal structure works. We don't need lessons from the Congress and the CPI(M) on how to oppose the BJP and its policies. We have shown how it is done during the last assembly polls," senior TMC MP Sougata Ray said.
The BJP, despite its high pitched campaign in the assembly polls held in March-April, managed to win only 77 seats in the 294-member assembly, while the TMC stormed to power for the third consecutive term by bagging 213 seats.
The TMC's tally has later gone up to 217 after it won a few other seats in by-polls, while that of the BJP has come down to 75.
The state BJP leadership welcomed the meeting between Banerjee and Modi.
"A chief minister can always meet the prime minister. Maybe our chief minister has gone to meet him for demands related to our state," state BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar earlier this month called upon the Mamata Banerjee government to come out with a white paper on Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) with details of investments attracted by the state through those programmes.
The governor had alleged that ground reality belies the claims of "resounding success" of the five editions of the BGBS.
The TMC government has been organising BGBS since 2015 to attract investments to the state.