SHILLONG: In what appears to be a significant setback for the INDIA bloc in Meghalaya, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) declared its candidate for the Tura parliamentary seat on Tuesday.
Zenith Sangma has been selected as the AITC’s contender for the parliamentary constituency seat in West Garo Hills.
“We are pleased to announce the All India Trinamool Congress candidate from the Parliamentary Constituency of Tura (ST) seat in Meghalaya. We wish the best to Mr. Zenith Sangma and hope he succeeds in this endeavor,” stated a release issued by the AITC.
The move effectively quashes any potential Congress-AITC alliance in Meghalaya, where there are only two parliamentary seats – Shillong and Tura.
Meanwhile, Tura is now poised for an intriguing three-way contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with National People’s Party’s (NPP) Agatha Sangma and Congress’ Saleng A Sangma already in the fray.
Zenith Sangma, the younger brother of former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, shifted allegiance from the Congress to the AITC ahead of the 2023 elections.
However, Mukul suffered defeat in the assembly elections.
Expressing frustration over the delay in reaching a seat-sharing agreement with the INDIA block member, Congress, Mukul had said, “We have waited patiently long enough. There was an intent to have a single candidate from the INDIA bloc to consolidate our strength. However, the Congress has announced candidates for Meghalaya last week.”
Meanwhile, the NPP has fielded incumbent Tura MP Agatha Sangma for the two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya.
Agatha, the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker Late PA Sangma, boasts a political legacy as a three-term MP and was briefly a Union Minister of State for Rural Development during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure.
