2 MLAs Backing Himanta's BJP Govt In Assam Lays Bare Congress Crisis Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls

Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, one of the two Congress MLAs who have announced their support to the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government.

It seems that trouble has no end for Congress in Assam. Now, two Congress legislators have announced their support to the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government. They are North Karimganj legislator Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Mangaldoi legislator Basanta Das. Purkayastha had been a popular Congress leader from the Barak Valley and also till recently was the party’s working president. He has now resigned from the post, although he said that he would continue — for how long? — to work as a primary member of the party.

This is not the first time that Congress legislators have supported the state’s saffron government. The grand old party had earlier suspended legislator Sashi Kanta Das for announcing support to the government. Later it suspended another legislator Siddique Ahmed for supporting the BJP-led NDA bloc candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls in 2022.

Notably, Ahmed also comes from the Barak Valley, where the saffron party trailed behind the then Congress-All India United Democratic Front alliance in the last state elections. The region has two Lok Sabha constituencies — Silchar, a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes, and Karimganj. Both seats were won by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But in the 2021 elections, BJP won only 2 out of the 8 assembly constituencies behind the then Congress-AIUDF alliance in the Karimganj constituency. Notably, the constituencies of both Purkayastha and Ahmed come under the Karimganj Lok Sabha constituency.

The political scenario of the state has gone through a significant change since the 2021 elections, with the Congress and the AIUDF breaking their alliance. As a result of this, the grand old party is already facing a challenge in the Barak Valley, where Muslims constitute a significant presence. Now, with the desertion of a senior leader like Purkayasthya, the party has faced a big blow ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. This puts the BJP in an advantageous position not only in the valley as well as in the state.

Cracks In I.N.D.I.A Bloc In Meghalaya

After cracks developed in the I.N.D.I.A bloc in Assam, a rift has appeared in the bloc in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya. According to a report by Northeast Live, TMC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma said that the party will nominate its candidate from the Tura Lok Sabha constituency by Monday.

The northeastern state has two Lok Sabha constituencies. It has to be mentioned that Mukul comes from the Garo hills, to which the Tura seat belongs. While speaking to the media, Mukul said that there were indications that negotiations were on but at present, he wasn’t sure of this resulting in fruition. This shows that Mukul waited for Congress, the largest constituent of the INDIA bloc, for seat adjustment but it seems things didn’t happen as expected. This seems to be the outcome of the bitterness between Congress and TMC supremo as well as West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Congress was demanding more than two seats in Bengal that TMC was offering. As a result, TMC demanded seats from the northeast, particularly from Assam and Meghalaya. But unhappy Congress is yet to allot any seat to TMC from the northeast. 

As a result, TMC will now announce its candidate from the Garo Hills, where it commands a sizeable influence. Notably, of the five seats that TMC won in the last state elections, four were from the Garo hills. This also seems to be a part of pressure politics from TMC. Though it is very likely that Congress will nominate its sitting MP Vincent Pala, also the current state party president, from the Shillong seat again but on the Tura seat, it is yet to reveal its cards. It has to be mentioned that Congress has weakened in the Garo hills after Mukul Sagma and his associates left the party to join TMC. This was evident from the results of the last state elections where the grand old party was able to win only a single seat from the Garo hills. It remains to be seen whether there would be any twists resulting in a Congress-TMC tie-up in the northeastern state.

CAP’s Ganesh Rai Announces Candidature

With the state assembly elections less than two months away, political activity has increased in the northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim. Ganesh Rai, the chief ministerial candidate of the newly formed Citizen Action Party, has announced his candidature from the Melli constituency.

This constituency has been a bastion of the Sikkim Democratic Front. The party has been winning since the 1994 state elections. Ganesh Rai’s wife Tushi Devi Rai had won this constituency as an SDF candidate twice — in 2009 and 2014. It is for this reason that Ganesh Rai believes that he has a base in the constituency, which also happens to be his home constituency.

Currently, the politics of the state is dominated by both the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha of Chief Minister PS Golay and the Sikkim Democratic Front of former Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. CAP is aspiring to emerge as a third major party. Already the party has started the Nagrik Jagaran Yatra to reach out to the masses and strengthen its base on the ground ahead of the state elections. Although, as of now, the party isn’t that strong to come to power on its own, it is likely to eat into the votes of both SKM and SDF.

The author is a political commentator.

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