Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma was on Friday elected as the parliamentary party leader of the Meghalaya unit of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). The unanimous decision was taken during the first parliamentary party meeting of the AITC held at Mukul’s residence in Shillong.
Mukul Sangma along with 11 other Congress MLAs formally joined the All India Trinamool Congress, also known as TMC, on Thursday to fight against “divisive forces” in the country.
Meanwhile, today's meeting, which was attended by all the 12 MLAs, also elected Umroi legislator George B Lyngdoh as the opposition chief whip and Mawsynram legislator Himalaya Shangpliang as secretary. This was after the AITC became the principal opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
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Addressing the meeting, Mukul Sangma thanked all the members for reposing their faith in him as a leader.
He also assured to carry forward the dreams and aspirations of the people in fulfilling the mandate given to the MLAs.
After the meeting, Shangpliang told reporters that the 12 MLAs are committed to working harder and will be reaching out to the people of the state.
“In totality, we have decided that all of us will contribute to the development of the state,” he said.
Shangpliang also informed that the newly formed parliamentary party will meet the chairperson of the AITC, Mamata Banerjee on November 29.
“Our leader (Mukul) is leading us on a delegation to Kolkata to meet the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress on Monday. We are going to have a further detailed discussion on the future of the party in our state,” he said.
Sources in the AITC have informed that the former Assembly Speaker and Nongthymmai legislator Charles Pyngrope is likely to be appointed as the president of the AITCC in Meghalaya.
Refusing to comment anything on this, Shangpliang however said, “We will be announcing that (decision) on our return from Kolkata after we have detailed discussion with our senior leaders in Kolkata.”
The AITC leader said that all burning issues of the state including the demand for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) will be taken up for discussion with the party’s chairperson.
