Shillong, Nov 25: The fireworks have been lit! The cake has been cut, and a pat on the back to IPAC strategist Prashant Kishore for breaking the Congress in Meghalaya and walking away with 12 Congress MLAs, majority from Garo Hills, including leader of the opposition and former chief minister Dr Mukul Sangma in what has been termed a ‘November Coup’ by Didi’s Trinamool Congress.

The media in Shillong has been going gaga over the ‘poll strategy’ of Kishore praising him in leaps and bounds terming the latest move a ‘game changer’.

Sadly, this was no Kishore strategy but an unfolding saga of the political turn of events in the Congress that was foreseen months ago.

To give Prashant Kishor the crown would be highly overrated in this political game of one-upmanship.

Instead, the crowning glory should have been on the head of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the crown prince bestowed on Vincent Pala whose entry into state politics spelt doom for any future political expansion of Mukul Sangma or even Charles Pyngrope.

Mukul Sangma as the last reigning congress chief minister ensured his courtiers were given the party tickets in 2018 elections to fortify his own kingdom.

It helped him to get 8 seats from Garo Hills, which included his brother Zenith Sangma, wife Dikkanchi D Shira and daughter Miani D Shira.

But it also brought down the congress bastion in Garo Hills as the NPP, proving all political pundits wrong, romped home with 10 MLAs- the largest share of seats in the 24 MLA constituencies of Garo Hills region. The added bonus was from Khasi and Jaintia Hills that included coveted constituencies like Pynursla with Prestone Tynsong, S. Dhar in Jaintia Hills, Nongstoin, Mawshynrut, among others.

The failure of Dr Mukul Sangma to stitch a coalition with regional parties like the UDP, HSPDP, PDF and Independents severely dented his long claimed ‘impenetrable armor’.

But, as Mukul Sangma lay in wait for the Conrad K Sangma govt to slip on its own floors, something else was brewing within the congress itself. Miffed by the ruling party to retain Meghalaya, Sonia Gandhi began scouting the horizon for new leadership which ultimately zeroed in on Vincent Pala.

This wasn’t a doomsday warning for just the former chief minister but also his bête noire and claimant to the congress throne-Charles Pyngrope.

Charles was compelled to abdicate even before the crown was placed on his head, way back in the year 2010, after congress legislators who had batted for him overnight switched camps leading to the emergence of Dr Mukul Sangma as the next chief minister.

As the saying goes “Your enemy’s enemy is my friend” Mukul and Charles suddenly became bosom buddies with a common foe- Vincent Pala.

Pala’s rise has put paid to any future leadership for Mukul and Charles, and both saw the writing on the wall.

What was left was a shifting bag and baggage. But that posed a problem. The next alternative to the Congress was the BJP. Charles could never fathom the idea of embracing a saffron side when his constituency happened to be represented by a Christian majority vote bank. It would have been the end of his political career.

When it came to Dr Mukul Sangma, two issues created a road block. His strong criticism of Narendra Modi when the latter was leading the BJP to an election victory that changed the course of India’s politics in 2014 ended any possible entry of Dr Mukul Sangma to the saffron bandwagon.

While Dr Mukul Sangma’s muslim connection by lieu of his late mother’s lineage was possibly a minor hiccup, he had to face against a formidable foe in the form of now Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, who has made no qualms about ensuring there is no second rung leadership in the BJP after himself when it comes to the north east.

With the tide clearly against them in the Congress, a virtual no entry in the BJP or for that matter even the NPP, the only next safe alternative was Bengal ‘tigress’ Mamata Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

With Mamata keen to expand her footprint across India, and the north east, the bitter animosity within the Congress leadership in Meghalaya was clearly a gift from goddess Durga, given the recent puja conclusion. Prasant Kishor only needed to tap into their frustration.

The biggest problem for both Dr Mukul Sangma and Charles Pyngrope and their followers is “How do they get their supporters and voters to change over to a Bengal centric party”?

The BJP hold on the hindu votes in the recent Bengal elections failed to hand them power as Mamata Didi got an overwhelming endorsement from the muslim majority region of the state to return for a record third time in the state.

The big question in Meghalaya is, “Can Mukul and Charles sway the tribal voters in favour of a party that banks on the support of a particular community that history has proven all along to be cast as an outsider, or in layman terms in the Garo and Khasi lingo- Bangal or Dkhar?