The western half of Meghalaya comprising five Garo Hills districts have become “Congress-free”. The damage has been done by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), not the BJP that had coined the slogan.

The Garo Hills are dominated by the Garos, one of the three matrilineal communities of Meghalaya.

On Thursday evening, 11 members of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) quit the Congress to follow all the eight MLAs of the region to the TMC.

The eight MLAs, including former Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma, were among 12 of Meghalaya’s 17 Congress legislators to switch over to the TMC overnight.

Principal Opposition party

The TMC is now the State’s principal Opposition party.

During the intervening period, 400 Youth Congress members resigned as did 600 members of the National Students’ Union of India.

This is for the first time that the GHADC, formed in 1952 when Meghalaya was a part of Assam, does not have an elected Congress representative. In the last GHADC election held in April this year, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 12 of the 30 seats.

One of them defected to the regional United Democratic Party to contest the October 30 bypoll.

Two days ago, Mr. Sangma made an offer to the remaining five Congress MLAs to join the TMC.

“Understand the ground reality and take a conscious decision. If you mean business and want to serve their people, you should jump the Congress ship,” he had advised.

The trouble for the Congress in Meghalaya began two months ago when Shillong MP, Vincent H. Pala, was appointed as the party’s State president. Mr. Sangma, then the Congress Legislature Party leader, was the sole contender for the Chief Minister post and he felt threatened by Pala’s appointment. The switchover to the TMC followed.