CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: In what is being viewed as a major political realignment in Meghalaya's volatile opposition space, former Meghalaya TMC Vice-President and brother of former Chief Minister and TMC Legislature Party Leader Dr Mukul Sangma, Zenith Sangma, on Wednesday officially returned to the Congress fold - a move that has sent ripples through the Trinamool Congress camp. The formal joining ceremony was held in the presence of AICC In-charge Dr A. Chellakumar and AICC Joint Secretary Adv. Mathew Anthony, underscoring the Congress high command's renewed push to reclaim lost political ground in the state.
Sounding both emotional and combative, Zenith declared, "I was very passionate about the Congress party, and throughout my life since I was a young child, I was very active in politics, following my senior leaders. Since then, I have been part and parcel of the Congress party, internally and externally. I personally like the Congress. But for certain obvious reasons, I had to be away from the party for some time. During those periods, I was regretting, thinking whether I had been doing an injustice. So now, I have decided that the Congress should be at a better platform, as I have been doing the same previously."
The return of Zenith Sangma - a former Cabinet Minister and one of Garo Hills' key political players - comes at a time when the Meghalaya TMC is battling a leadership vacuum. Asked the reason for his desertion, Zenith said, "Political parties are lifeless, non-living entities; it is the leaders who can carry all the people along to make the party strong. As far as the AITC is concerned, the leadership is not connected to the grassroots, so slowly and gradually the party has not been able to remain in public memory in certain regions of the state. It is going to be confined to just certain regions of the state, not in every nook and corner."
His statement comes on the heels of Dr Mukul Sangma's own veiled criticism of TMC Meghalaya President Charles Pyngrope, for what many insiders see as a colossal organizational failure to expand beyond the Garo belt. The desertion of Zenith is now being seen as the clearest indicator yet that the TMC's Meghalaya experiment has begun to crumble from within, even before it could consolidate its foothold in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region.
Reiterating his faith in the Congress, Zenith asserted, "The Congress is saturated in every nook and corner of the state, so I prefer to be in such a party which is pan-Meghalaya and pan-India." The remark reflects the Sangma family's old political DNA - deeply rooted in Congress ideology and its expansive organizational framework across Meghalaya.
Also Read: Meghalaya: Zenith Sangma quits TMC, set to return to Congress’ fold