TURA: It’s a battle royale in Tura where the departed king is still fresh in the minds of voters.
The king, former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, passed away in March, leaving his political legacy to sons Conrad and James and daughter Agatha. While Conrad is a former MLA and James is a sitting MLA, Agatha is a former Union minister.
Sangma was invincible in Tura, which sent him to Parliament 10 times. Now that he is no more, it has fallen upon Conrad, the youngest of his sons, to begin from where he left off. A National People’s Party (NPP) stalwart, Conrad is up against Dikkanchi D Shira of Congress in the May 16 by-elections for the Tura seat. Dikkanchi is an MLA and wife of Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.
The by-elections were necessitated following Sangma’s demise.
As the polls draw near, Conrad and his family have started visiting the houses of voters to “thank” them for their trust in the family. Conrad is banking on the “sympathy wave”, but Dikkanchi is least bothered about it.
“Yes, there is sympathy. People remember Sangma and will continue to do so. I have a tough fight at hand as I am up against the wife of the Chief Minister. Our people are politically very conscious and they always try to find out who has the right voice,” Conrad told The Sunday Standard.
“Voters will assess who the right candidate is to represent them in Parliament. I have been raising issues concerning the people. I am hoping they will judge my performance,” he said.
About his father’s legacy, he says, “All three of us are in politics and have committed ourselves to the cause our father worked for. We will work as a team.”
Founded by Sangma in 2013, NPP has spread its tentacles to Manipur. Conrad says they will continue the ideology and vision of his father and build the party brick by brick.
Dikkanchi is equally optimistic. “The politics of Garo Hills is going to be different. People will vote for me. Earlier, they used to consider P A Sangma their leader and voted for him despite knowing that he didn’t do much for Garo Hills. Now that he is no more, they will look for development,” she said.
She does not accept that she will be done in by sympathy votes in Conrad’s favour. She says earlier, two to three legislators had expired during their tenure and their sons contested in by-elections but did not get a sympathy wave.
Conrad has started his campaign, but Dikkanchi will start from Sunday. An Independent legislator, Rophul Marak, is also in the fray to give them some fight.