The former Meghalaya chief minister, who recently switched over to the TMC along with 11 other Congress MLAs, told PTI in an interview that the political dynamics in the entire region is going to change with him quitting the grand old party.
Presidential candidate P A Sangma on Tuesday met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to seek Trinamool Congress' support in the election for the top post. But the party remained non-committal, saying there was "no hurry" to take a decision.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
Thomas A Sangma of the ruling National People's Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition was on Thursday elected as the speaker of the 11th Meghalaya assembly.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
Conrad Sangma on Friday evening submitted the letter of support to Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhawan signed by 32 MLAs of NPP, BJP, Hill State People's Democratic Party and two Independents.
Sangma, the outgoing chief minister, said he has support of the BJP, the HSPDP and two Independent MLAs, while asserting the total tally may go up in the coming days as he is in touch with other parties as well.
The ruling National People's Party (NPP) in Meghalaya won 26 seats, but fell four short of the halfway mark of 31.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma rang up Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seeking her support for his candidature in the presidential election, Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghose said on Sunday.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj on Friday said that Trinamool Congress President and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should rationally extend support to BJP-backed candidate, P A Sangma for the presidential polls.
Presidential candidate P A Sangma on Wednesday said he had no grudge against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for supporting his rival Pranab Mukherjee stating all parties have their own "compulsions and calculations".
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Twelve of the 17 Congress MLAs in the Meghalaya Assembly on Thursday joined the Trinamool Congress, dealing a body blow to the grand old party in the northeastern state, their leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma said.
Pranab Mukherjee and P A Sangma will file their nominations on Thursday, setting off the presidential race between the United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed opposition candidate in which the ruling alliance is set for a runaway victory.
Here's how our netas fared in the elections.
Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma on Sunday said that he is still in the race for the President's post and has sought support of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee for his candidature.
In a press conference later in the day Sangma said that any resolution that is decided upon should be acceptable to the people.
Voting to elect 60 members of the state assembly in Meghalaya is scheduled for Monday, February 27. The results will be declared on Thursday, March 2.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party announcing support to P A Sangma pitting him against UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, the Trinamool Congress said its chief Mamata Banerjee was keeping a close watch and the party would take an 'appropriate decision at the appropriate time'.
The NPP has won six seats and was leading in 19 other constituencies as counting of votes polled in the February 27 polls was underway.
Debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister along with six ministers on Thursday in a grand show of strength full of colour and spectacle to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party's return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.
The sports department of Meghalaya denied permission to the Bharatiya Janata Party to host an election rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the PA Sangma Stadium in Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's home constituency of South Tura, citing construction work at the venue.
The exit polls further pointed out that the northeastern state would have a hung house, with Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) emerging as the single-largest party.
The desertion by more than two-thirds of the Congress legislative party makes TMC, a newbie in Meghalaya, the principal opposition in the Northeastern state.
The attack, resulting in arson and vandalism, took place when Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was holding a meeting with leaders of Achik Conscious Holistically Integrated Krima (ACHIK) and Garo Hills State Movement Committee (GHSMC), who were fasting to press for their demand to make Tura the winter capital of the northeastern state. The CM, who was inside the building, was not injured in the violence.
Uncertain political times in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura.
They will, however, remain in the Congress, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said.
They are actively engaging with the party leadership for the past some time but the party is yet to take a call, the sources said, adding the MPs include one from the north of the country and one from south.
Polling for assembly polls is underway in Meghalaya and Nagaland, northeastern states the Bharatiya Janata Party rules in alliance with regional powers.
The Congress wants to show that it is Sonia Gandhi who will nominate the presidential candidate, to discard the impression that the party chief has been given a fait accompli if she does not want the Congress candidate to lose, says Renu Mittal
'Had the BJP gone along with the NPP, that would have eased the task of the Congress of winning more seats.' 'That was a great strategy of the BJP.' 'It helped the NPP get more seats than perhaps if it had gone as a pre-alliance partner with the BJP.'
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party managed to notch up a morale-boosting win on its 'Mission Northeast' on Thursday by retaining Tripura emphatically, despite anti-incumbency and newcomer Tipra Motha playing spoilers to its party, while also piggy-backing to power in Nagaland on Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP's shoulder.
Exit polls by various channels predicted a hung house in Meghalaya, a win for the NDPP backed by the BJP in Nagaland, the two states that went to polls on Monday, and seemed to oscillate between predicting a clean sweep for the BJP to a hung house in the state of Tripura, where a new party the Tipra Motha may emerge as a potential king-maker in the polls, held a week back.
'Discussions are on' within the saffron camp, and a final decision on whether to come out of the ruling coalition or not will be taken in one month, he claimed.
BJP Meghalaya in-charge Chuba Ao said the party's 'Congress mukt campaign' is valid for the state and hence the party will seek clarification from the chief minister.
Stakes are high for the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the counting of votes on Thursday for three state assembly polls, as the results will signal if it has deepened its roots in Tripura, a Left bastion captured by the party in 2018, and made further inroads in Meghalaya and Nagaland, or if the opposition has managed to dent its influence.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday defended its decision to contest the presidential poll in which its has endorsed the former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma's candidature against the United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee and said that the election for the top post was an integral part of democracy.
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