The defection of leaders from the Indian National Congress (INC) has shaken the grand-old party and has led to speculation among the workers about the threat to its opposition space in view of the Trinamool Congress trying to grab it. In the last week, leaders from Meghalaya, Bihar, Haryana, and Goa joined the TMC which is trying to expand its national footprints at the cost of the Congress party. Within the last few days, Kriti Azad (a three-term Lok Sabha member from Bihar), Ashok Tanwar (former Haryana Congress chief and Lok Sabha member) and 12 Member of Legislative Assembly from Meghalaya under the leadership of former Chief Minister of Meghalaya and Congress Legislature Party leader Mukul M. Sangma has left the Congress.
The Congress circles in New Delhi were abuzz that the Congress high command tried hard to bury differences in the Meghalaya unit but the pressure of high command did not yield the desired results. In November itself, the high command had called former Chief Minister of Meghalaya and Congress Legislature Party leader Mukul M. Sangma and state Congress head Vincent H. Pala to the national capital to bury the hatchet.
Some Congress leaders who want to be unmanned feel that the TMC may emerge as a challenge for the Congress’s opposition space and this ruckus is helping the BJP by these moves.
However, many party leaders feel that the defection would not affect the party. Talking to The Daily Guardian, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Rajya Sabha member, and senior Congress leader said, “In North-East we all know that the leaders leave the struggling party. As far as the TMC is concerned it is a Bengal-based regional party, it has no impact elsewhere. We are a national party and the bypoll results have shown that we are improving and challenging the BJP.” Ground-level Congress workers echo the same sentiment.
Shams Shahnawaz, youth Congress spokesperson who had been actively working for the party said, “ Indian National Congress is a very large party. Those who were leaving the party didn’t want to struggle, they wanted everything on a platter. The party gave them everything when it was in power. Kriti Azad was given major responsibility in Delhi and Mukul Sangma was made CM. But, now when the time to struggle has arrived, they have shown their real face. I would argue it’s good for the party as new leaders will emerge through struggle and raising people’s issues.”
After joining the TMC, former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul M. Sangma said that the Congress has failed to make any marks as the “main opposition” of the country. He added, “Congress has failed to play the role of the main opposition party in the country. We have decided to merge with the Trinamool Congress, a complete sense of commitment towards serving the people has brought us to take this decision. In the 2018 Assembly elections, we were confident of forming the government but we could not. Again, post the election, there were activities to poach our members. This group of 17 collectively demonstrated our commitment…the commitment towards the state has superseded everything else… We are failing in our duty as far as the role of the opposition is concerned,”.
