He has been one of the most vocal critics of dynastic leadership of the Congress ever since he quit the party in 1999.

But when it came to choosing successors for his political fiefdom, Purno Agitok Sangma too seems keen to keep it all in the family. The former Lok Sabha (LS) speaker has already catapulted both sons into the corridors of powers in Meghalaya. And now it is the turn of his daughter.

Mr Sangma’s youngest daughter, Agataha, will contest the ensuing by-election in Tura Parliamentary constituency of the state’s Garo Hills as a candidate of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) –– the party her father had floated after quitting the Congress along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar.

Agatha may not find it difficult to win the by-election, as her father was elected from the same  constituency for nine times in a row and set an electoral record. “The NCP leaders and activists as well as common people of Garo Hills want Agatha to contest the election and go to the LS as their representative,” said Mr Sangma.

The LS seat recently fell vacant, when Mr Sangma resigned as an MP after being elected to the state assembly last month. The senior NCP leader is now the chairman of the state planning board.

Mr Sangma, however, denied that he had budged from his stand against ‘dynastic politics’. “I am not grooming my children to make them my political successors. For me, they are all activists of the NCP and they are getting opportunities because they sincerely worked for the party,” he said. But the state Congress chief O L Nongtdu ridiculed Sangma’s decision to field his daughter in the by-election in Tura. “He wants to create a ‘Sangma Raj’ in Meghalaya,” commented Nongtdu.