NEW DELHI: After sealing an alliance with the CPM in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Tripura, the Congress is looking to revive its fortunes in the other two poll-bound states, Meghalaya and Nagaland, where it has been relegated to the margins.
The assembly elections to the three North-Eastern states Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland are slated to be held from mid-February to March this year. The elections to the three states will be crucial for the grand-old party as it will be the first state elections to be held after the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra concludes on January 30. Though the Congress claims that the yatra was not associated with elections, the results will be seen as a referendum on the political impact of Rahul’s walkathon.
To combat the mighty BJP, the Congress has made a strategic move this time — to ally with old rival CPI(M) in Tripura. In 2018 assembly polls, the Congress’ vote share plummeted to less than two per cent from 37 per cent in 2013.
Speaking to TNIE, AICC Tripura in charge Dr. Ajoy Kumar said that the party is confident of winning the election and forming a government. “Our talks with CPM on seat sharing are underway. The ruling BJP is on the back foot and it’s evident from the way BJP president J P Nadda attacked us. Incidents of political violence and anti-incumbency will work against them,” said Kumar, adding that both Congress and CPM are negotiating with Pradyot Kishore Debbarma-led TIPRA Motha party for an alliance.
In Meghalaya, the party faces an uphill task. Though Congress emerged as the single-largest party in the 2018 state elections, securing 21 of the 60 assembly seats, the BJP outplayed the Congress and formed a government with the help of the National People’s Party (NPP) and others. Since then, a series of desertions of its legislators to TMC and NPP has left the party with zero members.
However, MP and Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Vincent Pala is hopeful that the party will return to power despite the setbacks. “I admit that senior leaders have jumped the shift to other parties. But people are watching. They won’t elect them back,” he told this newspaper. Pala claimed that the 2018 crisis was brought about by former Congress veteran Mukul Sangma, who was hostile toward the idea of allying with regional parties.
Twelve MLAs, led by former CM Mukul Sangma joined the TMC last year, while some of them switched to other parties. Analysts say that the Congress High Command failed to act upon the frosty working relationship between Sangma and Pala. A dominant force in the past, the Congress in Nagaland is now decimated without a single member in the 60-member assembly.
The state Committee Congress (NPCC) president K Therie said that the party’s campaign will focus on the failure of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party- BJP combine to deliver a political solution to the Naga conflict. “The party will tie up with like-minded political parties to form a secular front,” he said