Meghalaya: “A chief minister can always meet the prime minister. Maybe our chief minister has gone to meet him for demands related to our state,” Shamik Bhattacharya, a spokesman for the BJP in the state, remarked.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar called on Mamata Banerjee’s government earlier this month to release a white paper on the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), detailing the investments attracted by the state through those programmes.
The governor claimed that the claims of “resounding success” of the five editions of the BGBS are false.
Since 2015, the TMC government has organised BGBS to promote investment to the stateAccording to one of the defecting MPs, H M Shangpliang, 12 of the opposition Congress’s 17 MLAs, led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma, will join Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress on Thursday.
“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,” late Wednesday night, Shangpliang, the MLA from Mawsynram in the East Khasi Hills area, informed PTI.
He claimed Congress MLAs will join the TMC at an event at 1 p.m.
According to an official in Shillong, the breakaway faction has given a list of MLAs to state Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh, informing him of their decision.
Expansion of TMC Party
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the leader of the TMC, has been striving to expand her party’s impact beyond her native state.
Three-term Congress MP Kirti Azad, former JD(U) general secretary Pawan Varma, and Haryana politician Ashok Tanwar all joined her party the day before.
By contesting a highly fought municipal election in the neighbouring state, the TMC is attempting to make a significant splash in Tripura’s political arena.
It will also contest in the Goa assembly elections, with the goal of pitching Banerjee as the most vocal anti-BJP opponent.
12 MLAs to join TMC but why?
Twelve of the 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya, including Sangma, have joined the Trinamool Congress, according to a Trinamool Congress leader in New Delhi on Wednesday night.
Sangma, the Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition, was said to be dissatisfied with the Congress’s top leadership.
According to sources, Sangma was irritated by the appointment of Vincent H Pala without his consent, and the two did not get along.
Banerjee, who is now in the national capital, said on Tuesday that meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi is not necessary every time she visits New Delhi.
According to the TMC leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Trinamool Congress has become the state’s main opposition party with the addition of 12 Congress MLAs.
“Twelve of the 18 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya join Trinamool. Principal Opposition In Meghalaya is now Trinamool. Another huge setback for Congress,” he stated.
Meghalaya Elections
Meghalaya will hold elections in 2023.
The Meghalaya Pradesh Trinamool Congress was founded in 2012 with the goal of contesting 35 of the state’s 60 seats.
The 12 Congress members will not be disqualified since the anti-defection statute allows for the merger of two-thirds of a parliamentary group with another party.
The Congress and the Trinamool Congress exchanged words on Wednesday after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate a global business meet hosted by her government, with the grand old party claiming that the two parties’ “understanding” is now evident.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress president, further claimed that the TMC and Banerjee are saffron camp agents out to destroy opposition unity and the Congress.
The TMC retorted that inviting the prime minister to open a business meeting could not be improper, and accused the Congress of failing to combat the BJP and surrendering to 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 explained to reporters.
Banerjee said she invited Modi to inaugurate the Bengal Global Business Summit, which will be held in West Bengal in April next year, after meeting with him in New Delhi on Wednesday.
“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 elaborated.
Sujan Chakraborty, a senior CPI(M) leader, echoed him, saying that the people of West Bengal have realised how “the TMC has duped” them by projecting itself as an 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 stated.
The TMC, on the other hand, dismissed the claims as unfounded and politically driven.
“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,” Sougata Ray, a prominent TMC MP, stated.
Despite a high-profile campaign, the BJP only managed to win 77 seats in the 294-member assembly, while the TMC swept to power for the third straight term with 213 seats.
After winning a few more seats in by-polls, the TMC’s total increased to 217, while the BJP’s dropped to 75.
The state BJP leadership welcomed Banerjee and Modi’s meeting.
