Shillong, Nov 28: The Congress is ill-equipped to take on the challenge of the ruling NPP in the upcoming 2023 Meghalaya elections as its coffers are running low, which will hurt it in campaigns. For that matter, the grand old party will struggle to take on any national party that is doing well like BJP or NPP or even regional parties.

This was one of the reasons that put former Congress bigwigs like Dr. Mukul Sangma and Charles Pyngrope in a quandary as to what steps to take to return to the next Assembly.

In comes Mamata Banerjee and the All India Trinamool Congress which is no less than other political parties when it comes to big bucks in campaign financing. Their victory and return to power in West Bengal for a third consecutive term apparantly turned many heads- including Congress leaders in Meghalaya who were looking for a way out of the party ever since Vincent H Pala became state party president.

“The move to leave Congress was because most of the 12 defectors were unsure if they would get the party ticket for the next elections. Remember, they are all part of one group that is led by Mukul Sangma. The new president Pala would surely put his own team together, which is natural as similar move was taken when Mukul was chief minister. He had tried to get his younger brother Zenith Sangma for the MPCC president post so as to be the main decider when ticket allocation took place. But this didn’t happen,” a senior Congress source recalls.

The Money Trail

Was it mere ideology or a strong financial assurance that made the 12 Congress MLAs to defect to Didi’s party?

According to political sources, the Trinamool Congress has given an assurance to fund the campaign of the 12 defectors in the upcoming elections which is a god sent gift to the rebels who were already shaky as to where the next mega bucks would come from once the election process begins.

There has already been much talk about the massive dip in funding from the Congress party and this has been attributed to large scale defeats in almost all major states for the main opposition party in recent years and months.

Sources in the Congress also point to this factor when it came to the three recent by-elections in the state- Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Rajabala.

“Funding was very low from the party for the candidates. In fact it was mainly the new party president himself who stepped in to mobilise more funds for the candidates which helped to give a strong fight against a ruling party,” says one senior Congress source.

Mukul Sangma allegedly provided only Rs. 4 lakh for the campaign, whereas Pala is said to have tripled the amount.

Then came the issue of rebel candidates propped up in the by-elections, deliberate or otherwise.

Congress candidate Highlander Kharmalki lost by 1804 votes to the NPP’ Pyniaid Sing Syiem because another Congress worker Norbert Marboh walked away with 1400 votes.

For Rajabala seat in Garo Hills,  there was a deliberate plan for the  defeat of the Congress candidate.

Even though Hashina Mondol was the official candidate of the party, however, deep inside the Mukul Sangma faction was allegedly backing the UDP candidate Ashahel D Shira.

“Youth Congress workers and those close to the former chief minister deliberately worked for the UDP candidate. In fact the real candidate was Shira, not Mondol,” reveals Congress source.

Those opposed to the Mukul Sangma faction claim the defeat at two sure seats of victory, Mawryngkneng and Rajabala, was a calibrated move by the Congress rebels who wanted to weaken the party before defecting to the Trinamool Congress.

The congress will now need to introspect and take remedial steps before more of its rank and file jump off the ship.