Tura, Aug 27: Nobody likes a spoilsport, least of all when it’s a political gamble. And Gambegre is too crucial and prestigious to let slip for either the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma or his beta noire Mukul Sangma.
That is why the ruling NPP is fielding the chief minister’s wife Mehtab Chandee A Sangma, while Mukul Sangma has put up his younger brother Zenith Sangma’s wife Sadhiarani M Sangma from the All India Trinamool Congress or TMC.
But the Congress has put a spoke on their wheel.
A mere formality now, the Congress is waiting for the announcement of polls to name Saleng loyalist Jingjang Marak as the official candidate, revealed top Congress leaders who spoke to The Meghalayan Express.
“There is no other candidate for us. It has been Jingjang all the way. He has the backing of our new MP and the party machinery is going to back his candidature to the hilt, once polls are declared,” said a congress leader who wished to remain anonymous.
Till his entry, all eyes had been on the two women candidates, ever since, they landed in Gambegre to kickstart a low intensity campaign battle, holding street corner meetings and interacting with the local population post the Tura Lok Sabha election results that promoted its sitting Congress legislator, Saleng A Sangma, to Parliament.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s wife is no greenhorn to politics. Having been part of her husband’s gruelling campaign all through the years, she is someone who has always “held the fort” for her better half. With the full might of the NPP machinery that has returned to govern the state for a record second consecutive term in 2023, the ground situation appears conducive for her.
But she is facing a formidable foe in Sadhiarani Sangma, Zenith’s wife from the TMC. Sadhiarani has already served two successive terms as an MDC from Dengnakpara GHADC seat. She contested against Saleng for the Gambegre seat in the last two assembly elections, narrowly missing out in 2018 by just a handful of votes.
“She is a veteran of the political battlefield” , say her supporters. But more than that, she has experience of dealing with the intricate details of fighting elections from Gambegre that will hold her in good stead, feel many election watchers.
But the Congress can be the “killjoy” for both the NPP and the TMC.
Jingjang Marak is not a political novice. He previously contested the assembly elections from Tura, albeit unsuccessful. He is the most familiar face sharing a table in the inner circle of the Tura MP. Their friendship goes all the way to their college days, when the Congress aspirant was directing and producing short films and music videos and the new Tura MP was then a known face in the acting scene.
With campaigning well underway for the past several weeks by the two arch foes- NPP and TMC, the Congress has also realized the urgency of the situation.
The Tura MP landed on the Gambegre scene, last week, to begin a mobilization campaign for the party. He plans to leave no stone unturned in ensuring his close friend and party candidate fills the vacuum left by him.
They will hope to keep the momentum of the Tura MP election victory alive as they go into the campaign, which has been a tard slow for the Congress. But the party hopes it turns out to be, “better late than never”.
