BJP mocks Rahul Gandhi as 12 Meghalaya Congress MLAs support TMC; says 'age on his side'

After 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya decided to support TMC on Wednesday, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya took a dig at Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi. In a swipe at the former Congress president, he contended that it was "unfair" to blame the former and that he has "age on his side". Taking recourse to a defence usually adopted by the Congress party to sidestep its failures, Malviya reckoned that this development had very little significance as the next Meghalaya Assembly election was due in 2023. 

BJP's Amit Malviya quipped, "And what is the hullabaloo about? The next assembly election is in 2023. The 12 legislators continue to sit in opposition. Rahul still has age on his side..."

TMC gets a foothold in Meghalaya

In the 2018 Meghalaya election, the incumbent Congress government led by the then CM Mukul Sangma failed to retain power despite emerging as the single-largest party in the 60-member Assembly with 21 seats. Finally, the National People's Party formed the government along with BJP and smaller parties such as the People's Democratic Front, Hill State People's Democratic Party and United Democratic Party under the leadership of Conrad Sangma. The rift in Congress came to the fore after Vincent Pala's appointment as the president of the party's state unit.

Expressing unhappiness, Mukul Sangma claimed that he was not consulted by the Congress high command regarding this development. While speculation was rife that he would join TMC along with his supporters in October itself, the Sonia Gandhi-led party managed to salvage the situation after Rahul Gandhi held a discussion with Sangma and Pala in the national capital. Though they agreed to work together for the subsequent by-elections, Congress suffered a drubbing as the ruling coalition won the Rajabala, Mawryngkneng and Mawphlang seats.

A day earlier, 12 Congress MLAs including the former CM formally informed Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh about their decision to support TMC. Speaking to PTI, Congress MLA Shangpliang remarked, "Twelve MLAs of the Congress out of 17 in Meghalaya have decided to join the TMC. We will formally join the TMC under the leadership of former CM Mukul Sangma". As per sources, they will be inducted into the Mamata Banerjee-led party at 1 pm today. 

Interestingly, Sangma had attended a meeting at the Congress headquarters on November 18 to review the party's performance in the Meghalaya by-elections. As more than two-third of MLAs of the Congress Legislative Party have defected, they won't attract disqualification thereby making TMC the leading opposition party in Meghalaya. In recent times, TMC has poached many key Congress leaders such as Kirti Azad, Ashok Tanwar, Luizinho Faleiro, Sushmita Dev and Abhijit Mukherjee.