GUWAHATI: The Congress has cautioned the National People’s Party (NPP), which heads the ruling coalition in Meghalaya, to be wary of the BJP or be swallowed by it.
Citing an example, the Congress said the BJP had penetrated into Assam by riding piggyback on the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and almost swallowed it.
All India Congress Committee media coordinators Bobbeeta Sharma and Matthew Anthony told journalists in Shillong that the NPP might face a similar fate.
The NPP is least perturbed. The party said it is No 1 in Meghalaya and efforts are on to further consolidate it.
“We don’t need to agree or disagree to anything which any other political party may say. We are doing our job. We are the No 1 party and we are working hard to build it further. We are confident,” NPP spokesperson Ampareen Lyngdoh told this newspaper.
The BJP had forged an alliance with the AGP in 2016 to avoid the split of anti-Congress votes. The Congress, under the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, was going great guns after having formed the government three times in a row. However, the BJP’s alliance with the AGP and the Bodoland People’s Front turned out to be a masterstroke. The three-party combine ousted the Congress from power and formed a coalition government.
The AGP had dished out a sterling performance, winning 14 seats. The BJP-AGP alliance continued but the latter suffered in the 2021 polls with its tally of MLAs going down to nine. In both elections, the BJP had won an identical 60 seats.
The BJP has two MLAs in Meghalaya. One of them is a minister. However, the party’s ties with alliance partner NPP are on the rocks after it cornered the latter on the issue of alleged corruption.
The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 elections but the BJP was instrumental in forming the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) and capturing power. Some smaller regional parties are also the components of the ruling coalition.
Meanwhile, the Congress said Meghalaya urgently needs to be free from corruption and scams which are clogging the system of governance.
“There is so much of corruption that even the state BJP president was compelled to comment against its ally NPP. The BJP issued a statement where it slammed the NPP for denying people development projects due to corruption, lack of policies, intent, and incompetence,” the Congress said in a statement.
The Congress had won 21 seats in the last elections but after a series of defections, it is now left with no MLA. Meghalaya will go to polls on February 27.