GUWAHATI: The Congress on Tuesday joined the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya’s coalition government where the BJP is a component with two MLAs.
“We, the undersigned MLAs of the Indian National Congress, have decided to join the MDA government today...We wish to support you and the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) to strengthen the government’s arms and decision-making, so as to ensure that our joined efforts will take the state forward, in the general interest of its citizens,” the five MLAs, led by Congress Legislature Party leader Ampareen Lyngdoh wrote in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
All five of them met Sangma and submitted the letter to him.
This is the second time in the Northeast that the Congress decided to join a government where the BJP is a constituent. In 2015 in Nagaland, all eight Congress MLAs had joined the Naga People’s Front-led coalition government where the BJP was an entity.
The development in Meghalaya comes less than three months after the merger of 12 Congress MLAs with the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
The AITC was quick to react. It said, “The unscrupulous and power-hungry people have officially joined hands.”
After meeting Sangma, Lyngdoh told this newspaper that the five of them were still with the Congress.
“We went to meet the CM as the Congress Legislature Party. We haven’t ditched the party. We decided to join the government as we wanted to protect one another (five MLAs),” she said.
“We had suffered tremendously in developmental projects. We have been neglected as we are in the Opposition and we felt it would be better for us to partner with the government in the remaining 11 months (before elections), so our constituencies get the attention required,” Lyngdoh, who is a former minister, added.
She said they had written several letters to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on their decision to give conditional support to the Meghalaya government but there had been no response.
“We had written the last letter two months ago. Since nobody responded to our letter or opposed it, we assumed they (AICC) are either ignoring us thinking we are insignificant or they are in agreement with us,” Lyngdoh said.
She was confident the five Congress MLAs would be able to do their part in solving some important issues, including the state’s boundary dispute with Assam.