Will a Trinamool Congress-led coalition come to power in Meghalaya?
Assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya got over recently. Exit polls say that while the results in the first two would go the BJP’s way, Meghalaya would have a hung assembly. Which means coalition will be the way forward for government formation.
While the NPP and its ally, the BJP formed the outgoing government, the latter has not done particularly well, say most exit polls. On the contrary, first-timer All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) is supposed to have performed well, coming behind the NPP.
So, the NPP will most likely not be able to form the next government, and that brings Trinamool Congress into the picture.
In 2018, the BJP had captured power in Meghalaya for the first time, in alliance with its senior partner, NPP. The Congress was the main opposition party. But for the last one-and-a-half years, Trinamool Congress has been the main opposition party as more than a dozen MLAs of the Congress, led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma, joined the latter.
Political commentators say that despite the recent war of words between Rahul Gandhi and Abhishek Banerjee, the AITC national general secretary who led the election campaign in the north-eastern state, primarily over the issue of the MLAs shifting their allegiances, they might bring their parties together in a coalition to send an important message of opposition unity ahead of the crucial 2024 general elections. The local party, UHD might also join in.
The results for all the three states—Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland—will be announced tomorrow, March 2. Counting will start at 8 am. Now it’s only a matter of a day to see whether Meghalaya will see a new coalition in government, led by Trinamool Congress.
