West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee will arrive in Shillong on December 12 to discuss strategies with party leaders of the state for the upcoming assembly elections, a TMC leader said.
Former Meghalaya assembly speaker Charles Pyngrope, who is the president of TMC in Meghalaya, said: “She (Banerjee) will meet party workers from all the 60 assembly seats and also interact with civil society groups and leaders in the state.”
Mamata Banerjee will also participate in a pre-Christmas celebration with children in Shillong.
The TMC, which did not contest a single seat in the 2018 Meghalaya assembly election, became the main opposition party in the state in November last year after 12 of the 17 Congress legislators, led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma and Pyngrope, joined the West Bengal-based political party.
Recently, legislator HM Shangpliang, who too had quit the Congress to join the Trinamool Congress, resigned from the party to join the BJP.
Two other legislators Benedic R Marak (NPP) from Raksamgre and Ferlin CA Sangma (NPP) from Selsella too had resigned from the ruling party and are likely to join the BJP.
Apart from Shangpliang, three more TMC legislators – Marthon Sangma, Jimmy D Sangma and Shitlang Pale are expected to quit the party later this month. Marthon and Jimmy are expected to seek re-election on NPP (National People’s Party) ticket, while Pale will be joining the United Democratic Party (UDP), the major constituent of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance.
