'MLAs lured by money, power': Meghalaya Congress chief on defection of 3 legislators

Shillong: Meghalaya Congress President Vincent Pala launched a sharp attack on National People’s Party (NPP), accusing them of being involved in a cash transaction for taking away three Congress MLAs to the ruling party’s fold.

Pala told IANS that three defected party MLAs were lured by money by the ruling party.

“The NPP has been involved in large-scale corruption in the state. They have tried to lure our party legislators through money power. I also believe that the defected MLAs were also given assurance of some good positions. That is why they switched sides and joined the NPP,” he said.

Pala also mentioned that he is not at all surprised by the development as this is happening everywhere in the country.

He stated: “Sadly, money and muscle power play a big role in today’s politics and people often forget about their ideological inclination.”

Three Congress MLAs, Celestine Lyngdoh, Charles Marngar, and Gabriel Wahlang, joined the NPP in the presence of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday.

Speaker of Meghalaya Assembly Thomas Sangma announced that the three MLAs' action was allowed to be considered a “merger” rather than a defection because it resulted in the membership of the NPP by more than two-thirds of the Congress's MLAs.

The NPP now holds a far stronger position in the government than it had after last year's state Assembly polls when it was only able to form a government by coalition.

Following the elections, the NPP emerged as the single-largest party and with the support of the United Democratic Party (11 MLAs), the People's Democratic Front (two MLAs), the BJP (two MLAs), and the HSPDP (two MLAs), the NPP established a coalition to form the government.

The NPP currently holds a simple majority in the House. The strength of the party MLAs now stands at 31 and Conrad Sangma’s party holds the simple majority in the Assembly.

Reacting to the latest development, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said in an X post: “The induction of the Congress MLAs to our party is a true demonstration of the faith in our government. The merger of Congress MLAs to NPP has increased our strength to 31 in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.”