Tura, Oct 29: Months prior to the 2023 assembly elections in Meghalaya, opposition leader and two term former chief minister Mukul Sangma did the unthinkable. He broke the Congress and walked away with around a dozen party legislators to open a new front- the Bengal centric Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee.
It had a cascading effect. The ripples of the rebellion even touched the shores of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council. Overnight the Congress, that was once a force to reckon with, ceased to be of any significance- be it at the state or the district council. Mukul had extracted revenge for being sidelined by the Congress high command which threw its weight behind state party president Vincent Pala. But it would come to haunt him, two years later.
His closest ally and family- Zenith Sangma turned the tables on the elder brother by returning to the very party that was left maimed and abandoned by Mukul Sangma.
A former minister, Zenith M Sangma has always been seen as a pillar of strength for the elder brother- after all, he was the eyes and ears of Mukul Sangma. Even at the worst of times, when Trinamool won just four MLA seats from the Garo Hills region in the 2023 elections, and Zenith himself lost from his bastion of Rangsakona constituency, he remained committed to big brother and the party.
Mukul rewarded him with the TMC party ticket to take on Agatha Sangma of the NPP in the Parliamentary elections from Tura in 2024. It’s another story altogether that Saleng Sangma of the Congress went on to win Tura with Zenith and the TMC relegated to a distant third position.
So, what changed?
The Gambegre assembly by-poll, necessitated by the victory of Saleng Sangma to Parliament, created cracks on the walls of the TMC fortress after both opposition parties- TMC and Congress decided to go solo- giving a clear edge to the NPP and its candidate Mehtab Chandee A Sangma.
Saleng’s folly in backing a greenhorn- Jingjang Marak, and Zenith’s wife Sadhiarani M Sangma joining the contest as another opposition candidate made the path of victory much smoother for Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s wife Mehtab Chandee A Sangma who won by securing a total of 12678 votes.
For both the Congress and the TMC, the split in votes was evident. Despite a half-hearted fight towards the end of campaigning, the Congress did manage to secure 7695 votes, and the Trinamool 8084 votes. Together they had a cumulative score of 15,779 votes. The writing was on the wall- there can be no room for another entity in the opposition camp.
Shadow of GHADC polls
As Garo Hills gears up for the GHADC MDC elections early next year, the threat of another split in votes has returned to haunt both the Congress and the Trinamool Congress.
Zenith Sangma’s wife Sadhiarani M Sangma is the sitting MDC from Dengnakpara- a two-term member of the GHADC, her area covers a sizeable portion of Gambegre and Rangsakona- former bastion of her husband who had to cede ground to the NPP’s Subir Marak in the 2023 MLA elections.
The threat of another split in votes between the TMC and the Congress is once again real. More worrisome is that the Trinamool is yet to be tested in battle in the GHADC elections. All the current Trinamool MDCs in the GHADC were elected on a Congress ticket but switched allegiance when Mukul Sangma defected.
With two back-to-back defeats in successive elections- assembly and Parliament, the occupants of the Trinamool camp will be a worried lot. Not so for the Congress that is basking in the victory of the Tura MP elections. It’s no wonder, Trinamool leader Zenith Sangma chose the grand old party over his own brother’s Bengal centric party.
