Shillong: In a boost to the National People's Party (NPP) in Meghalaya, three out of the total four Congress MLAs on Monday joined the ruling party increasing its strength to 31 in the 60-member assembly.
The NPP now secured majority on its own in Meghalaya which is ruled by a coalition, comprising other parties such as the UDP and BJP.
The Opposition Congress is reduced to just one MLA who is the Leader of the Opposition RV Lyngdoh.
The number of MLAs in the ruling coalition is now 47.
Former state Congress chief Dr Celestine Lyngdoh, Gabriel Wahlang and Charles Marngar met Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma and informed him about their decision to join the NPP, sources said.
In an order, the Speaker said, "All three members formed two third of members of the Congress Legislature Party in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly….” They will be allotted seats as members of the NPP in the Assembly, he said.
The Congress has suspended Gabriel Wahlang and Charles Marngar from the party for six years.
NPP president and Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma welcomed the three to the party.
"Our role as a government is to ensure maximum development for the people of Meghalaya. We have set clear goals for the next decade and we are working to achieve them. We welcome anyone who wants to be part of the success story," the chief minister told PTI.
Their joining indicates the impressive development agenda of the party, taking along everyone, to make the state a more developed state by 2032, he said.
Besides the NPP’s 31 MLAs, ruling coalition constituents UDP has 12 members in the House, HSPDP two and BJP two.
The opposition TMC has five MLAs, VPP four and the Congress one. There are two Independent MLAs also.
One seat is vacant in the assembly.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)